


Powered

by discordiansamba



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2018-07-10 21:44:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 162,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7009279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/discordiansamba/pseuds/discordiansamba
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Powered Children- a term invented for a unique rash of births of children with abnormal abilities after the occurrence of a mysterious phenomena known as the Night of Falling Stars. When a missing persons case brought to Kogoro by one Toyama Kazuha catches Conan's attention, it launches him knee deep into a Black Organization conspiracy involving the Powered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Medias Res

**Author's Note:**

> AN- I accidentally stayed up until one in the morning hammering out the first chapter of a new Detective Conan story? Whoops dang how did that happen.
> 
> It should become quickly apparent exactly where in the timeline this story starts when you read it, with of course, the note that there are definite differences between the already existing timeline of this AU and the canon! I wanted to try and write a story with superpowers, but not a story that involved *superheroes*, per say, and I ended up with this as the result. I think I've got some pretty neat things planned, so I hope everyone enjoys and sticks around!
> 
> As always, your feedback is ever welcomed and fully encouraged!

"Now, I'm certain that a number of our viewers today remember the strange events of the evening of the fourth of April, nearly eighteen years ago now." Began Okino Yoko's introduction as she faced the camera, a bright smile on the idol's face. "The mysterious night which has become known as the Night of the Falling Stars, would soon prove to have changed our world in ways we could have never expected!"

"Yes, of course, I'm speaking of the existence of what we have come to know as the Powered Children, or simply the Powered!" Nodding her head, the idol stepped back from the camera, letting it catch some of the backdrop behind her- though she still used her body to conceal the special guest that was waiting in one of two chairs on the set. "These mysterious children who were born after the Night of the Falling Stars quickly proved themselves to have unique, sometimes amazing powers. Approximately twenty percent of the babies born around that night were born with these unique abilities!"

"And our guest today is none other than one of those very children! That's right, the girl who has been in the news everywhere lately, and the daughter of my favorite detective, Mouri Ran-san!"

Stepping aside now so that the camera could zoom in on the face of her special guest, the girl in question felt her cheeks heating up in spite of herself. "H-hello." Ran stammered slightly, glancing around her, not entirely certain of where to look. She'd never been featured on TV like this, especially not next to an idol of Okino Yoko's fame. She could hear her heart pounding away a mile a minute on TV- and the fact that she could faintly hear her father shouting out words of encouragement to her from off camera really didn't help matters much. "It's a pleasure to be here."

"It's a pleasure to have you here as well, Ran-san!" Yoko beamed, effortlessly taking a seat next to the girl, doing her best to make her comfortable on camera. She had been excited when she'd agreed to be interviewed by her, so she wanted to do her best to ensure that she didn't feel stressed out in front of the camera. "How are you doing today? You seem a bit nervous!"

"Ah, it's my first time on camera like this." Ran confessed to her, fiddling with the folds of her skirt, before glancing over at the idol with a smile. "But I thank you for taking the time to speak with me today, Okino-san. Although, to be frank, I don't think I deserve all this attention."

"My, how modest!" Yoko said. "Many people owe you their lives, Ran-san. I'm sure everyone in Beika- no, everyone in Japan, is very grateful to you!"

"No, well, I was just doing what came naturally..." Ran trailed off. She could already hear Sonoko teasing her about being 'uncharacteristically sheepish', but she couldn't help it! It wasn't she had her father's confidence when it came to appearing on screen- and this was her first time! Frankly, if the offer had come from anyone other than Okino Yoko, who she knew to some degree from her father's work, she wouldn't have accepted it.

"Still, what you did is nothing to be sneezed at, Ran-san." Yoko told her with a smile, before turning back towards the camera. "I'm certain most of you watching right now know of the story that has put young Ran-san here into the spotlight, but for those of you who missed her daring rescue, we'll get right into it!"

Turning back towards Ran, Yoko pointed her microphone towards her. "Now then, Ran-san, can you begin to tell us the events of the morning of the eighteenth?"

"Ah, yes." Nodding her head, Ran took in and let out a deep breath, which served to calm her nerves some. "On that morning, I was accompanying Conan-kun, a boy we're looking after at the agency, and his friends to the aquarium. I won some free passes in a local lottery, so I thought I would treat them."

"But before you arrived at the aquarium, an incident occurred." Yoko briefly interjected, to which Ran nodded.

"Yes." Ran continued. "Just as we were rounding the corner, we suddenly heard the sounds of a blaring horn. At first I thought it was just an unruly driver, but as it turned out, that wasn't the case. It was actually a tour bus that had lost control of it's brakes and couldn't stop accelerating."

"What's more, the bus was heading straight downhill- is that correct?" Yoko asked.

"Yes, it was." Ran confirmed.

"Thankfully the bus had managed to avoid any collisions with cars up until that point, but you realized that there was a huge obstacle ahead of it, didn't you?" Yoko asked.

"That's right. I know that area pretty well." Ran nodded again. "At the end of that hill there was a building that was under construction. I realized that if it hit that, it would probably cause it to collapse, and people would die. Once that thought got into my head, I acted without thinking."

"Yes, that's right!" Yoko said, beaming as she turned back towards the camera. "Our brave young heroine, sensing danger, decided to throw herself into the line of fire to stop it! Now then, Ran-san, can you clarify for those in our viewing audience exactly what your ability is?"

"Ah, yes!" Inclining her head, Ran turned awkwardly towards the camera. "Um, it's fairly straightforward, but I have super strength."

Somewhere in the background, her father's voice could be heard shouting 'my daughter's the strongest!', which caused Ran to flush a bright red color, especially as members of the camera crew moved to shush him. What if the people watching television could hear that too? Honestly, her father could be quite embarrassing!

"Super strength!" Yoko declared. "Then, for you, stopping a runaway bus must have been nothing to you!"

"It was actually a bit harder than it looked." Ran confessed, holding up her hands. "It had already gained quite a bit of momentum, and it was still heading straight downhill, so it was actually quite difficult. But I knew that I had to do something!"

"You have quite the wonderful sense of justice. No doubt it's something you gained from your parents, correct?" Yoko asked.

"Yes! Especially my mother." Ran told her, beaming a little as she mentioned her mother. "Ah, and of course, my father too!" She added, nearly as an afterthought.

"Of course, everyone knows that your father is the famous great detective, Mouri Kogoro, but your mother is a fairly famous lawyer in her own right, isn't that correct?" Yoko inquired, to which Ran nodded. "I see. Then, getting off the topic of your brave feat for a moment, do you mind if we discuss your childhood a little? I'm told that you used to struggled with your strength quite a bit as a little girl- is that correct?"

"Yes, it is." Ran confirmed. "It wasn't as bad when I was still real little, but once I started attending school, it began to cause me problems. A lot of the other students were afraid of me for awhile..." She admitted, glancing briefly away from the idol. "Ah, not everyone though! Sonoko and Shinichi were always there for me. Ah, they're my childhood friends!" She quickly added.

"That sounds quite difficult for any young child to go through." Yoko said, sympathy in her voice. "But, luckily you had someone by your side who would eventually help change that. Can you tell us a little bit about that?"

"I don't mind." Ran said, shaking her head. "The one who helped me was a man named Professor Agasa. He's an inventor who has lived by my friend Shinichi for forever. He saw how distressed I was, and what a problem my strength was shaping up to be, and stepped in to create something to assist me with managing it. These,"

Lifting up her wrists, Ran displayed a pair of bracelets, simple silvery twists of metal around each wrist. Facing the inside of her wrists was a simple dial, one on each bracelet, which could be adjusted from 'one' to 'five'.

"Of course, their appearance has changed from when I was a child, but their function is basically the same." Ran said, lowering her hands, placing them carefully on her lap. "At level one, my strength is basically no different from anyone else's. At level five, it's the same as the limiter being completely off. Because of them, I was finally able to interact normally with everyone else."

"Quite the invention!" Yoko said. "And quite a stylish way to conceal them as well."

"Yes, I helped him design this version when I entered into high school." Ran told her. "Of course, as the years went by, I learned how to manage my strength under my own terms as well, but I always keep them with me just to be safe. They also allow me to participate fairly in karate tournaments as well."

"That's right, you're the captain of your high school's karate club, aren't you?" Yoko asked. "It must be a pain, to have them examined before every match."

"No, not at all." Ran shook her head. "As long as I can assure everyone that I intend to fight fairly on the same level, it's not a bother at all."  
________________________________________________________

"You're watching that _again_ , Professor?"

The dry, only vaguely childlike voice caused the older man to start, switching off the television without thinking about. Quickly realizing who the sudden intruder was, he heaved a sigh, setting the remote back down.

"Well, what's wrong with that? It's Ran's important interview, after all." The portly man said. "Of course, I would want to watch it over and over again."

"Are you sure it's not just because she mentioned your name on national television?" Conan Edogawa observed dryly. "I know you've been getting a ton of business since then, after all."

"Well, what's wrong with that?" Agasa almost huffed, getting to his feet. "Since you're here though, do you want something to drink? I was just about get something myself."

"Yeah, some coffee, if you don't mind." Conan requested, taking a seat in the Professor's living room, a troubled expression on his young face. "By the way, where's Haibara?"

"If I recall, she's deeply engrossed in her research right now." Agasa said, quickly pulling down two coffee mugs. To some, it might be strange to hear a seven year old child request coffee, but Agasa knew that Edogawa Conan was no child- rather, his true identity was that of seventeen year old Kudo Shinichi, a high school detective of no small amount of fame. "Why do you ask?"

"I'd rather she not hear what I've got to say." Conan said simply, glancing down towards the basement of the professor's place. He knew that was where Haibara Ai, formerly known as Sherry, who had been a member of the shadowy Black Organization until she betrayed it and ran away, did most of her work.

"Then, I take it your visit to Jodie-san's apartment turned up some kind of results." Agasa observed, glancing over towards the shrunken detective. "Did you find anything out, Shinichi?"

"Nothing conclusive." Conan shook his head. "But there was one thing I was able to confirm for certain while I was there. There's no mistake about it, she's definitely hiding someone else in that apartment."

"Someone else?" Agasa asked, pouring coffee into a cup, offering it to the grateful not-child. "Are you certain, Shinichi?"

"Yeah." He nodded his head. "Well, we got involved in a bit of trouble with a case, so I wasn't able to look around as much as I would have liked, but I'm quite certain there was someone else in that apartment. She covered up most of their traces fairly well, but I found some dark hairs in the bathroom drain that couldn't have possibly belonged to Jodie-sensei."

"Couldn't they have just been from a guest?" Agasa asked, taking a seat next to him.

"No, I don't think so. There were other faint traces of someone else living there as well. There were too many dirty dishes for just one person, especially since she said she washed them every day. When I asked the neighbors, they all said they sometimes saw a suspicious person enter and exit from her apartment."

"Suspicious? Did any of them see his face?"

"No. He kept his face covered with a hood and a cap." Conan shook his head. "He had dark skin, though, and they seemed to think he was fairly young."

"Certainly, that seems a bit strange..." Agasa trailed off, putting a hand to his chin. "And? From the way you're talking, it doesn't seem as if you found anything that connects her to _that_ Organization, did you?"

"No." Conan said, taking a sip of his coffee. "But if I act too aggressively, I might attract unwanted attention. The last thing those guys need to realize is that Kudo Shinichi is still alive."

"That's for sure." Agasa nodded his head. "You should consider yourself lucky that you didn't die right then and there, Shinichi. Both you and Ai-kun."

"You don't need to keep reminding me, Professor." Conan observed dryly, glancing over towards the portly man. "Well, it's true that as it stands, I don't really know why we shrunk instead of died. There was the theory that Haibara had running awhile back that it was because we were both Powered, but didn't seem entirely convinced of that."

"Speaking of that, nobody's realized that yet, have they?" Agasa asked, setting down his coffee cup. "It would be bad if anyone realized that what they thought were a pair of seven year old children had special powers. The only ones affected by the Night of the Falling Stars were either newborns or those still in their mother's bellies, after all. It's too early for any of the Powered Children to have children of their own, especially one that's already seven."

"Idiot, of course not." Conan said, taking another sip of his coffee. "Haibara and I don't have very flashy, obvious abilities anyways, not like Ran and Sonoko. Well," he paused, taking another sip of his coffee, "I might have not used it much when I was Kudo Shinichi, but my voice changing ability has certainly come in handy since I shrunk down to this size. Even if can never get used to that old man's voice coming out of my throat."

"Honestly, I still can't believe I'm stuck giving that idiot detective all the credit for my cases." Conan muttered, his lips twisting into a frown. "I don't really like lying to Ran either."

"It's necessary to keep her safe." Agasa noted simply.

"She can stop a runaway bus with her bare hands." Conan retorted.

"But a bullet or poison would still kill her, neither of which either of us wants to see happen." Agasa responded in kind, picking up his cup of coffee again. "I understand your frustration, Shinichi, but I'm certain Haibara's working as hard as she can to find you a true antidote."

"I know, I know." Conan heaved a sigh. "Honestly, you don't have to keep reminding me every time, Professor. I know the reason why I have to keep it a secret."

"Well, I just worry." Agasa frowned. "So? Do you have any theories as to who it is that Jodie-sensei's hiding in her apartment?"

"No clue." Conan admitted, seeming to almost grumble a little about it. If there was one thing he didn't like, it was when he didn't know something. "Whoever it is, they're obviously trying to stay hidden. But whether they're related to that Organization or not is a different story."

"Do you want me to observe her apartment for awhile?" Agasa asked, watching as Conan quickly shook his head.

"No, it's too risky. If they really are linked to that Organization, they might realize they're being watched." Conan said with a frown. "Well, even if they aren't, they might still realize it. Then again, I'm pretty sure that Jodie-sensei knows something, otherwise she wouldn't have worked so hard to conceal this other person's presence from me."

"Well, just be careful, Shinichi." Agasa warned him. "Ah, that's right though, while I still remember- apparently Ayumi invited Ai-kun over to her apartment this Sunday. Apparently her mom's friend will be teaching the both of them to make cake. I recall she said Genta-kun and Mitsuhiko-kun are also going, but I don't suppose you'd also like to tag along, Shinichi? It might do you good to get your mind off of this, if only for a moment."

"Cake?" Conan asked, an incredulous note on his voice- before he heaved a sigh. "Well, why not. Those three wouldn't shut up about it if I said no anyways. Why Ayumi-chan's sudden interest in baking cake, though?"

"Apparently she wants to make it as a gift." Agasa shrugged his shoulders. "Probably to that nice young man who helped her out the other day."

"Helped her out...?" Conan tilted his head, quickly filtering through his memories. "Ah, you mean that guy who spoke with the Kansai dialect. I heard about him from Ayumi-chan. Well, I suppose I should be grateful. If he hadn't shown up when he did, she might have been taken away somewhere. I would have liked to have met him though. From the way Ayumi-chan describes him, he sounds like quite the character!"  
_________________________________________________

"Are you catching a cold?"

"Nah, I don't think so. Probably someone's just talkin' 'bout me. An' can ya drop the weird Japanese when we're in private, at least?" Irritation was crystal clear in the blue eyes that glanced across the table at the blonde woman in front of him. "I know ya speak it just fine, so what's the point, Jodie- _sensei_?"

"Sorry, sorry. It becomes a bit of a habit after awhile." Jodie gave the young man a quick smile. "Although I don't really think you're one who can lecture me on strange Japanese, Hattori-kun."

"Like I said, Osaka-ben is _perfectly good Japanese_!" Folding his arms in front of him, Heiji's lips twisted in a tight frown. "Honestly. First there's a murder across the hall, and I'm not allowed to go solve it, an' now I have to listen to ya insult my dialect? What a lousy day this one's shaped out to be."

"Well, don't say that. I'm sure I don't have to remind you why it is you're hiding in the first place, Hattori-kun." Jodie said. "Besides, you sneaked a peek at him, didn't you? That _cool kid_."

"I know, I know. Ya don't have to keep harpin' on about it all the time. It's like ya think yer my old lady or somethin'." Heiji grumbled, though he quickly perked up at the mention of the visitor from earlier. "Ah, ya mean that boy with glasses? I sure did get a good look at him when he wasn't payin' any attention. Did that deduction from earlier really come from him?"

"So it seems." Getting up from the table as she heard the kitchen timer go off, she busied herself with silencing it and pulling out some dishes. "He's amazingly smart, isn't he?"

"He's definitely not a normal kid, that much's fer sure." The dark skinned boy observed, getting up. "Can I help ya with anythin'?"

"No, it's fine. You're my guest after all, Hattori-kun." Jodie glanced back at him.

"Well, guest is _one_ way of puttin' it." He observed, rubbing the back of his head. "Ya sure none of yer associates know I'm here, right? It's not that I don't trust you guys, but well..." He trailed off, idly rubbing his right shoulder. "Ya did kind of shoot me the first time we met."

"And I said I was quite sorry." Jodie noted, glancing up at him. "Besides, you got better. Remarkably so."

"It still hurt, ya know." Heiji huffed.

"Yes, I know. But no, to answer your earlier question, aside from my boss, nobody else knows you're here, Hattori-kun. Well," she paused, tapping a wooden spoon against her chin in thought. "I'm quite certain Shu suspects something, but if it's him, you can trust him."

"Ya sure do speak highly of him whenever that guy gets brought up." Heiji observed, a wry grin appearing on his face, his tone going from serious to teasing in a split second. "Do ya like him or something, sensei?"

"N-no, it's not like that." Jodie stammered, vaguely turning a light shade of pink. "I just think he's a very reliable, very talented coworker of mine who I trust very much. That's all." Coughing into one hand, she leveled her gaze back at the dark skinned teenager in front of her. "And what about you, Hattori-kun? I'm certain there must be someone you have feelings for you left back at home."

"No way." Heiji waved a hand, giving her a blank look. "The closest thing I've got to somethin' like that is Kazuha, an' she's just my childhood friend. I don't got any feelings fer her like that."

_Probably._

"Speaking of the Toyama girl, are certain you don't need to tell her anything?" Jodie asked, frowning. "I know the world needs to continue to think that Hattori Heiji is dead, at least until we do something about those guys, but the way that girl is searching for you worries me. What if she accidentally attracts their attention?"

"It's fine, it's fine." Heiji reassured her. "It'll only be a problem if she finds evidence that I'm really alive. I didn't intend to let that happen. If anythin', I'm more worried about my old man findin' me."

Well of course he felt more than a little bad about it- he had basically vanished off the face of the earth, after all- but he had his reasons that he needed to remain hidden. The last thing he wanted to do was drag Kazuha or anyone else into the mess he'd found himself knee deep in.

"Besides, if she gets real deep into danger, she can just poof away, ya know?" Heiji shrugged his shoulders.

"Ah, that's true." Jodie said. "It's easy to forget about that sometimes. We don't really have any Powered back in America, after all. Probably only five percent of the babies born around the Night of Falling Stars were affected in my country. She can teleport, right? Your childhood friend?"

"That's right." Nodding his head, Heiji tucked his hands into his pockets, heading over into the kitchen to take a whiff of the curry that Jodie had just uncovered. "Oh, not bad. But yeah, Kazuha can just teleport around like that. She needs a photograph if it's a place she hasn't been before, but she can pretty much go anywhere she wants."

"That sounds like it would save you a ton of money on travel expenses." Jodie mumbled, her eyes narrowing in thought. "I'd go for that, if I had a superpower."

"Honestly, same." Heiji confessed.

"Hattori-kun, you _do._ " Jodie observed, quirking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, an' it _sucks._ " Heiji retorted, returning the look. "Teleporting's much better."

"Now don't say that," Jodie remarked, carefully removing the curry pot from the heat. "There are plenty of people in this world who would kill for your kind of ability, Hattori-kun."

"I know, that's why I'm in this mess in the first place." Heiji noted.

"Ah well, point taken." Jodie admitted. "Can you get the rice ready?"

"I thought ya said ya didn't want to make yer guest work." Heiji quipped, though he nevertheless complied.

"That was before my guest forgot himself and tried to tease his elder." Jodie wagged a finger. "It's very, _very_ rude, you know~!"

"Like I said, quit it with the weird Japanese already."  
__________________________________________________

"Sorry! Really, really sorry!"

"Like I said, it's fine already." Ran gave the girl in front of her a reassuring smile, hoping to assuage her worries at least a little. "It was just an accident, right? As a fellow Powered, I can at least understand that much."

Well, it was true that she had been surprised when a girl her age had suddenly popped into existence in front of her. She had narrowly avoided colliding with her, but had slipped on the pavement in the process, scraping her knee pretty badly. But Ran had never been the type to hold grudges over something like that to begin with, so she really didn't mind.

"I still should have been more careful!" The girl looked up finally, and Ran noticed now that she seemed to be speaking with an Osakan dialect. Slowly, the girl in front of her seemed to recognize the girl she had nearly collided with, and her eyes went wide. "Are you possibly Mouri Ran?"

"Yes, I am." Nodding her head, she felt her cheeks flush a little in spite of herself. It had been at least a month since that interview had aired, and she still wasn't able to get used to random people recognizing her so easily. "Um, did you perhaps come here to see my father about something?"

"Oh, that's right, I did!" The girl said quickly. "I'm Toyama Kazuha. I came here in order to make a request from your father. Is he in right now?"

"He should be. I don't think he has any other cases today." Ran observed, smiling at the girl. "What did you need my father for, Toyama-san? I'm certain that he would be happy to help you. Ah, it's this way." Ran noted, heading up the stairs to the detective agency, praying that her father had kept the place marginally clean since she'd left.

"I wanted to ask him to help find my childhood friend, actually." Kazuha told her.

"Ah, so you can reconnect with him?" Ran hazarded a guess.

"No, that's not quite it." Kazuha shook her head. "We've been together basically all of our lives up until now. But he suddenly went missing, six months ago."

Something in the girl's voice, in the expression she wore, stirred Ran's heart. She knew full well how it felt to have one of your childhood friends suddenly disappear without warning. After all, the very same thing had happened to her, around five months ago. But from the sound of it, she didn't think this girl's friend had contacted her even once during these past six months, even the ever absent Shinichi made an occasion to call her. He'd even appeared in person not that long ago.

She couldn't help but feel completely sympathetic to this girl's plight. Turning around, she quickly took Kazuha's hands in her own, giving them a reassuring squeeze, her limiter at work to make sure she didn't do anything beyond that. "Don't worry, Toyama-san! I'm certain my father will find him for you!"

"Find who?"

"Ah, Conan-kun!" Dropping Kazuha's hands, Ran smiled brightly at the young boy. "Did you finish playing over at Ayumi-chan's place? How did cake baking go?"

"...it went." Conan noted, glancing away from her. The last thing he wanted to admit that every other member of the Detective Boys had managed to make at least a passable cake, other than him. His was barely even edible, much less presentable.

"That bad, huh?" Ran noted. "Ah, that's right. Toyama-san, this is Edogawa Conan, a boy who is living with us right now. Conan-kun, this is Toyama Kazuha, she came to employ my father."

"It's nice to meet you, Kazuha-neechan!" Conan flashed a smile, even as he inwardly groaned about having to call a girl his own age 'neechan' again. "I'm sure uncle will be able to help you!"

 _Well, if he can't, I will,_ the not-child thought dryly.

"I hope so." Kazuha said, doing her best to give the pair a smile.

"Come on, let's talk to my father now. Father?" Ran knocked on the door to the agency, before cracking it open. "You have a client!"

"Oh, Ran, welcome back." Kogoro observed, putting out his cigarette. "A client, you say?" He asked, getting to his feet, watching as the trio entered into the agency. "Then welcome to the Mouri Detective Agency, young miss. What brings you to my doorstep?"

"She's looking for her missing childhood friend." Ran told her father, leading Kazuha to one of the couches.

"What, another one? Don't tell me this one is an amateur detective too?" Kogoro grumbled, taking a seat across from Kazuha. Really, he hadn't meant anything from that remark, but from the way the girl perked up, he couldn't help but wonder if he'd hit the bullseye.

"That's right!" Kazuha nodded his head, before she glowered, mostly out of habit. "But he's not just an amateur detective. Heiji was making quite a name of himself back in Osaka, I'll have you know!"

"Heiji?" Kogoro frowned, putting a hand to his chin. An amateur detective named Heiji from Osaka... for some reason that sounded vaguely familiar to him. "Well, I'm not disputing what talents your friend might have, but why don't you tell me more about him?"

Her words had caught Conan's attention as well, and he carefully slid in next to Kazuha on the couch. What were the odds that two teenage detectives had disappeared over the course of a few months, after all? Well, it might not have anything to do with them, but it caught his interest nonetheless.

"His name is Hattori Heiji." Kazuha began, reaching into her jacket and pulling out a photograph, placing it on the table in front of them. Glancing down at it, Conan noted that it was a young man with noticeably dark skin, and dark hair. For some reason that nagged at him, but he couldn't place the reason why at the moment. "He's a high school detective, and has solved a number of cases in his own right. We've known each other since we were babies."

"He seems like the type who's hard to miss." Kogoro observed, picking up the photograph. "If you don't mind me asking, is he possibly mixed?"

"No, he's Japanese, all the way through." Kazuha shook her head. "Well, people make that mistake a lot. He gets his dark skin from his grandfather."

"I see. Now you're saying that he went missing?" Kogoro asked, unable to help but spare a glance over towards Ran. "Are you sure he didn't run off on some case or something?"

"Even if that was the case, you would think he'd call someone after awhile. He can be pretty reckless at times, but even Heiji's not that inconsiderate." Kazuha said. "It's been six months without a single word from him. Even his father can't seem to find him."

"His father?" Ran asked, looking at the photograph herself. "Is he also a detective?"

"You don't know?" Kazuha blinked. "His father is Hattori Heizo."

"Ha-Hattori Heizo?" Kogoro blinked, his eyes going wide. "I see, that's why his name sounded so familiar! I'd heard that the son of the Superintendent Supervisor of Osaka's Prefectural police was doing the high school detective thing as well, but who would think he'd pull a vanishing act too?"

"Too?" Kazuha blinked.

"Yeah." Ran nodded her head. "Well, in Shinichi's case, he hasn't really vanished as much as become difficult to get in touch with." She told him, scratching her cheek.

"Shinichi?" Kazuha asked. "As in Kudo Shinichi?"

"That's right, that's the one." Ran nodded her head. "He's actually my childhood friend."

 _Well, I actually haven't gone anywhere._ Conan noted, looking towards Ran, before he looked back towards Kazuha. "Shinichi-niichan is investigating a really hard case!" He chimed in. His mind was already turning over the facts that he'd been given- if this Hattori Heiji had vanished six months ago, then that was a full month before he had become Conan. If that was the case, there was a chance Haibara might know something if he'd gotten involved with the Black Organization, and made a mental note to ask her.

"I see." Kazuha blinked, before looking over at Ran, giving her a small smile. "I guess that makes us kindred spirits in a way, Mouri-san."

"Ah, just call me Ran." Ran told her. "My father is Mouri-san, after all."

"Ah, that's true." Kazuha noted. "Then, in that case, you can call me Kazuha, Ran-chan."

"I'll take you up on that offer then, Kazuha-chan!" Ran said.

Clearing his throat, Kogoro quickly brought the attention of the two teenage girls back to him. "Then, Toyama-san, can you give us any further details about the circumstances surrounding your friend's disappearance? Was there anything unusual going on around that time?"

"No, everything seemed normal." Kazuha told him. "It's just that one morning, he didn't come home. When we searched his room, we noticed that some of his stuff was missing. A duffel bag and some clothes, as well as his wallet and some other odds and ends. But nothing really looked out of place."

"Didn't he just run away?" Kogoro asked, which earned him a fierce glare from Kazuha.

"Heiji wouldn't do something like that! Not without telling someone where he was going!" She snapped, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "He's not that sort of person."

"Right, right, I got it. No reason to get so angry." Kogoro held up his hands, trying to defuse the girl's temper. "Then, was there anyone who had a grudge against Hattori-san?"

"Well, probably." Kazuha admitted. "But nobody who wasn't already in jail. He was a detective, after all."

"That's true..." Kogoro trailed off. "Well, in any case, I would be more than happy to take your case, Toyama-san. If you would like to write down your contact information?"

Relief washed over Kazuha's features, and it looked like a burden had been lifted off of her shoulders. "Thank you, Mouri-san!"

"Hey, is this Hattori-kun a Powered as well, Kazuha-chan?" Ran asked.

"As well? Kazuha-neechan, are you a Powered?" Conan asked, glancing over at the girl. He had, after all, missed her little teleporting act from earlier.

"I am!" Kazuha nodded her head, a proud smile flashing on her face. "I can teleport anywhere I want! It's quite a handy power to have!" She told them, finishing writing down her contact information, and sliding it over towards Kogoro. "But as for Heiji, he's completely normal. He would always complain about it too when he was a kid."

"Now that you mention it, there sure were a lot of Powered born in Osaka." Kogoro observed offhand, glancing over the contact information Kazuha had given him.

"There were quite a few of us at our elementary school." Kazuha said, chuckling slightly as she remembered. "Heiji always felt that he had gotten cheated."

"Is that so?" Ran chuckled herself, recalling vaguely how Shinichi as a child had always been jealous of her own power, declaring that it was much cooler than his own. "Well, you don't have to worry about a thing, Kazuha-chan. I'm certain my dad will find him! He's a great detective, after all."

"You got that much right!" Kogoro flashed a wide smile, letting his ego surface again. "A case like this will be solved by the great Mouri Kogoro is a flash!" He said, snapping his fingers. "I guarantee it!"

 _Well,_ Conan thought, unable to keep his true feelings out of his gaze as he looked at Kogoro, _at least one of us will work hard to find him._ Who knows? Maybe finding this Hattori Heiji guy would help make him feel a little less guilty about having to pull a disappearing act on Ran, if only by proxy.

Well, that is, provided he wasn't mixed up with the men in black.


	2. The Missing Detective of the West

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following a vague hunch, Conan makes an inquiry of Ai about the missing Hattori Heiji- but her answer is a little more than he bargained for. Something clearly doesn't add up here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: And without much delay, here's chapter two! I forget to mention it in the previous chapter, but I'll definitely be playing fast and loose with the established timeline and canon events- certain characters will definitely be showing up much quicker than they would otherwise! I'm not really interested in doing a straight up retelling, naturally.
> 
> But anyways, here's the second chapter~! Please be sure to tell me what you think, I love hearing feedback, thoughts, and theories from you guys! Remember, the best way to convince your favorite authors to update is to leave them a good review!

It took her a moment before she realized that the odor of fire and smoke were simply lingering remnants from her dream.

Perhaps _nightmare_ would be more precise, Jodie thought, pushing herself up into a sitting position. Glancing over towards her clock, she squinted at it, the digital monitor revealing to her that it was already two in the morning. Heaving a sigh, she slid out of bed, taking her glasses from the nightstand beside her. She was too wide awake now to get back to sleep. She might as well get a drink.

She hadn't had a nightmare like that since she was a child, and she couldn't help but wonder what had brought it on now. Perhaps it was simply because they were slowly closing in on _that woman_ \- and the rest of the mysterious Organization that she was linked to, she hoped.

But in order to catch Vermouth's tail, they needed a foolproof plan. Otherwise the elusive woman would just slip away again.

Carefully opening up her bedroom door, Jodie cautiously peered out into the living room. She didn't want to wake Heiji up, after all. Creeping through the living room, she paused only briefly, glancing at the sleeping form of the teenage boy on the couch. She had tried to insist that they at least get him some kind of futon, but he had turned down her offer, saying that someone might find it strange if she had something like that delivered to her house when she was supposed to live alone.

Quietly making her way into the kitchen, she reached up into her cabinets, pulling out a glass. Fetching a bottle of sherry, she poured herself a glass. She had classes to teach tomorrow, but going without a little sleep was nothing that the FBI investigator hadn't dealt with before. It would be nothing.

Carefully making her way back into the living room again, she quietly pulled out a chair at the table, taking a seat. Listening to the steady breathing of her apartment's unlikely guest, Jodie quietly let out a breath of her own. Picking up her glass, she took a drink, making sure to set it down with the utmost care so that she didn't disturb him.

To think that she had come all the way to Japan chasing after that woman. Closing her eyes, Jodie rubbed her forehead, wondering if she was feeling a headache coming on. There was just something about knowing she was so close that somehow made her nervous. They weren't there yet- there were still more pieces that needed to fall into place.

What she definitely didn't understand, was what a boy as young as Conan could have to do with all of this. And if she didn't miss her guess, he was somehow deeply involved in this whole affair. As smart as the boy was, the fact that she was involved in something like this definitely bothered her.

Heaving a sigh, she took another drink, swirling the alcohol around in her glass. In the darkness of the room, she could faintly hear Heiji mumble something, and for a moment, she briefly thought she had woken him up, and opened her mouth to apologize.

"It's no good, Kazuha... I can't eat anymore." He mumbled, turning over in his sleep. "Yer the only one left now who can avenge Otaki-han... Ya have to uphold his honor..."

 _What kind of dream is that, I wonder?_ Jodie found herself letting out the faintest of chuckles, an amused smile dancing on her lips. Well, strange dreams were far better than nightmares, and she knew that the young man currently freeloading on her couch had no shortage of them, much as he tried to deny it. Well, considering what he'd gone through, it didn't surprise her, however mentally hardy he otherwise seemed to be.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as the direction of her thoughts shifted. The first thing she had tried to do after hearing this young boy's story out (or at least, what he was willing to share of it) was attempt to convince him to join the Witness Protection Program- an offer which he had turned down without so much as a second thought. He wasn't interested in running away, he said, and besides, he had some personal scores to settle with those mysterious men in black that had forced him to go into hiding in the first place.

He'd been hesitant to trust her at first, even after she had proved to him that she was an agent of the FBI. Well, given what kind of secret he was hiding, it wasn't like she could blame him. She had joked about it earlier, but there really was a fair share of people who would be willing to kill to have an ability like his, one which the boy himself didn't seem to care for, however much he exploited it.

She knew, of course, there were matters in which Hattori Heiji was not being very forthcoming. The fact that he had chosen not to turn to his father in this situation, when he wielded no small amount of power, was something that had always set off an instant red flag in her brain. The fact that he kept it a secret exactly what he had been doing in the five months before she had crossed paths with him was suspicious as well. The only thing she knew for certain was that before coming here, he'd been in Nagano for quite some time. It wasn't that she believed he was trying to deceive her in any way- rather, she was quite certain he was keeping cards to himself because he'd decided to deal with them himself, something which troubled her more than a little.

"Don't forget you're still a child yourself." Jodie whispered, before finishing off her glass of sherry.

Sherry... that peculiar red riding hood girl from the bus that Conan had so desperately tried to hide. She wondered what connection such a young child could have to such a dangerous organization, and why it was that Vermouth seemed to have it out for her so badly. It felt like the more answers she found, the more questions she had.

Well, she knew from the start that investigating them was no easy matter. Even when they thought they had gotten a promising lead, the research lab that they had been raiding had exploded. She and her fellow agents had just been lucky to get out of there with their lives- but everything in the lab had been completely lost. The police department, had of course, ruled it as a simple accident, something which didn't surprise her.

If there was one thing that Organization was good at, it was covering their tracks.

"Better try to get some sleep." Jodie mumbled, getting to her feet. Her gaze lingered for a moment longer on the slumbering form of the teenage boy, before she quietly crept back into her room.

Even though the research lab had been completely destroyed, not all was lost, as they had first thought. In spite of the absolute destruction, there had at least been one survivor.

That was, of course, none other than Hattori Heiji.  
_____________________________________________________

Frankly, Conan didn't know what the odds were that two high school detectives could have possibly encountered the mysterious group he'd come to know as the Black Organization. But then again, he had been very surprised as well to learn that he wasn't the only person to shrink due to Apotoxin 4869, so perhaps the odds weren't entirely out there.

Well, it was another matter entirely if this Hattori Heiji had actually survived his encounter with the men in black. There couldn't _possibly_ be a third shrunken teenager wandering around there somewhere, was there?

Naturally, the first thought that had come to his mind was consulting Ai about the matter. If it was something dealing with those guys, especially if had happened six months ago when she was still working for them as Sherry, she might know something. Of course, he could also be completely wrong- there were definitely other reasons as to why a teenager might suddenly disappear, he supposed.

As eager as he was to get his own investigation started, Conan found himself confronted by one looming obstacle- he had school.

Heaving a deep sigh, and wondering what he had done to deserve being forced to go to elementary school for a second time, he glumly followed behind Ran as she walked him to school. At the very least, he could tell Ai that there was something he needed to speak to her in private about at school. There was no way he was going to have a serious discussion about the men in black where there were listening ears- even if they were children, around to hear it.

"Is something wrong, Conan-kun?" Ran asked, glancing down at him. "You're looking a little gloomy this morning."

"Doesn't he look that every morning?" Suzuki Sonoko spoke up, casting a slightly distasteful glance down towards what she thought was a small child. "He's not cute in the least, after all."

 _Shut up._ Conan glowered back at her, before perking up, flashing Ran the biggest smile he could make. "I'm fine, Ran-neechan! I was just thinking about Kazuha-neechan's case!"

"Ah, is that so?" Ran smiled at him. "Well, you don't have to worry too much about it, Conan-kun. I'm certain that dad will find him quickly."

"Who's Kazuha?" Sonoko asked. "A client of your dad?"

"Yeah." Ran nodded her head. "She came to the agency yesterday asking dad's help to search of her missing childhood friend."

"That sounds oddly familiar." Sonoko couldn't help but remark. "Don't tell me he's another high school detective?"

"He is." Ran blinked, looking a little surprised. "Dad said the same thing, actually."

"Are you serious?" Sonoko blanched, apparently not enjoying having had the same line of thought as Ran's father, if only for a second. "Don't tell me that Shinichi's had another childhood friend floating around this whole time? I'm surprised that unsociable guy even has the two of us to begin with."

 _Sorry for being unsociable,_ Conan thought. "It's not Shinichi-niisan! It's another high school detective!"

"How many missing high school detectives can there possibly be?" Sonoko observed dryly, quirking a brow. "Seriously, what are the odds? Are you sure he hasn't just flaked off on some case, like your husband, Ran?"

"Like I keep telling you, Sonoko, he's not my husband!" Ran protested, puffing out her cheeks. "Honestly." Regaining a bit of her composure, she finally shook her head. "But no, Kazuha-chan doesn't seem to think so. He hasn't even called once, and it's been six months. If Shinichi hadn't contacted me in that long, I think I'd be at my wits end myself."

"Well that's true. Even _I_ might start to worry about that guy after six months." Sonoko said, her lips twisting into a frown.

"Kazuha-chan gave me a photo of him to take. I was thinking of showing it around school, to see if anyone has seen him. He seems pretty memorable, after all..." Ran trailed off, fishing a photograph from out of her bag, showing a beaming, dark skinned high school student in uniform. "I don't suppose you've seen him at all, Sonoko? His name is Hattori Heiji."

"No, I haven't." Shaking her head, Sonoko shrugged her shoulders. "Sorry I can't be of more help to you, Ran. If it's dark skinned guys, the only one I really know is Makoto."

"By the way, how's it been going with him lately?" Ran inquired. "Has he gotten in touch with you since last time?"

From the way the brunette began to suddenly crackle with sparks, it seemed that Ran was right on the mark. Giving Ran a slow nod, Sonoko pulled out her cellphone, a heavily customized model, the likes of which only the rich heiress could easily afford, to protect it from the unintentional surges of electricity she sometimes put out, and she brought up a message.

"He said that he dedicated his last tournament win to me." Sonoko mumbled, small electric sparks continuing to crackle off the flustered girl.

"My, how romantic!"

At the sound of Jodie's voice, the trio started. Briefly, Conan wondered when the English teacher had managed to sneak up on them- he hadn't noticed her at all. "Ah, sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you!" She quickly apologized, flashing them a smile. "I just couldn't help but overhear!"

"Ah, Jodie-sensei. Are you walking to school today?" Ran asked, blinking a little. "Don't you usually drive?"

"I was meeting someone this morning, so I just decided to walk the rest of the way." The teacher answered, briefly glancing down at Conan, giving the boy a smile. "But I didn't know, that Suzuki-san had a boyfriend."

Well, I think Sonoko forgets herself sometimes. Conan couldn't help but note, wisely deciding not to give voice to that thought.

"His name is Kyogoku Makoto." Ran told her, beaming from ear to ear. Frankly, she was just as happy about Sonoko's successful relationship as she was herself. "Right now he's traveling around the world, participating in karate tournaments, so she doesn't get to see him as often."

"Oh, the Prince of Kicks! I've heard of him!" Jodie clapped her hands. "It seems you've found yourself a wonderful partner, Suzuki-san! You should hold on to him."

"I fully intend to." Sonoko said, carefully putting her phone down, the field of electricity that had been crackling off her finally beginning to die down. For the most part, Sonoko had full control over how own abilities as a Powered- but every so often, usually when she was flustered, she would set off a shower of sparks around. Well, it wasn't really any worse than a bit of static electricity, so it wasn't like it caused too many problems in the long run, aside from the occasional brief power outage.

"Ah, that's right, Jodie-sensei." Recalling the photograph she still held in her hand, Ran turned back towards the English teacher. "I'm asking around about a missing person for my dad right now. Have you seen this boy around anywhere before?"

To Jodie's credit, only the slightest of flinches made it's way onto her face, and she quickly shook her head. "No, I haven't seen him before. But I'll keep my eyes open if you need me too, Mouri-san."

To think that none other than Mouri Kogoro, known in most circles as the Sleeping Kogoro, had been assigned the case of tracking Heiji down. She could only hope that his client was Toyama Kazuha, or perhaps his mother, Hattori Shizuka, rather than anyone else. She didn't dare cast her eyes downwards at the moment, not needing to see his expression to know that Conan's gaze was currently leveled on her, a look written in his eyes that would make it clear that he had noticed something.

And he had.

To anyone else, it probably wouldn't have been obvious, but to Conan, Jodie's earlier flinch was clear as day. She had clearly reacted to the picture that she had been shown- but the question was why. For the briefest of moments, his earlier words to Professor Agasa sprung back up in his mind.

_"No. He kept his face covered with a hood and a cap." Conan shook his head. "He had dark skin, though, and they seemed to think he was fairly young."_

Sure enough, this Hattori Heiji had dark skin, and his hair was the right color to match the dark hairs he'd found in Jodie's drain. It couldn't be that the person that she was hiding in her apartment was none other than the missing high school detective?

No, it was too early to jump to conclusions. What reason would she have to conceal Hattori Heiji's existence? What would be her motivation for hiding him in the first place? There were many more questions than answers at this point, and the niggling feeling that his fellow high school detective's disappearance might just possibly have something to do with his interests only grew.

And if that was the case, if Jodie-sensei really did recognize him and was concealing this fact, then that would be nearly concrete evidence that she had something to do with _that_ Organization.

Speaking with Haibara, he thought, was imperative.

"This missing boy of yours," Jodie spoke up after a moment, looking towards Ran, deciding to fish for a bit more information. "Who is it that hired your father to find him? His parents, maybe? I'd imagine if their son is missing, they must be quite distressed."

"No, it was his childhood friend, actually." Ran told her, finally tucking away the photograph. "She's really worried about him. Since I can sort of relate to her, I thought I'd do my best to help out and ask around myself!"

"Is it because of that Kudo Shinichi boy you mentioned once before?" Jodie asked, putting a finger to her chin as she recalled what she knew about the missing friend of Ran's.

"Yeah." Nodding her head, Ran gave her a small smile. "I was just thinking to myself how worried I'd be if Shinichi didn't check in with me every once in awhile, and I realized I'd probably feel exactly how Kazuha-chan was feeling right now. There's no way I could just sit around and do nothing after that!"

Besides, she had a feeling that she was going to take a liking to Kazuha as well. She wondered if maybe the two of them could become friends- perhaps she should introduce her to Sonoko, if she ever had the chance.

It had been her first time meeting another Powered in awhile, after all! She was certain that if Shinichi was still here, he'd be interested in speaking with as well.

"Well, as I said, I'll keep a sharp eye for this missing boy of yours, Mouri-san." Jodie promised her again, before patting her on the shoulder. "Now, come on. If we just keep standing around here all day, all four of us will be late for school."

"We can't have a teacher be late for teaching her own class, can we?" Sonoko spoke up with a grin. "You'd be in big trouble then, Jodie-sensei~."  
_________________________________________________

"So," Haibara Ai raised an eyebrow as she set aside her backpack, her markedly unchildlike gaze fixing on Conan. "What was it that you wanted to discuss with me that was so important? Yoshida-san and the others were quite disappointed that we couldn't all go to the police station together to give everyone the cakes Yoshida-san worked so hard on."

"You almost sound like you were looking forward to it." Conan couldn't help but observe, setting aside his own backpack.

"Is there anything wrong with that?" Her tone was slightly sharp as she gave her retort.

"No, there's nothing wrong with that." Conan quickly shook his head.

"So?" Ai asked again, taking a seat on the sofa. "I'll ask again. Exactly what is it that's so important you had to talk to me about it right away? Especially because you and the Professor have been sneaking around me lately." Arching an eyebrow, she gave him somewhat of an amused grin. "Or did you perhaps think I didn't notice?"

"We're not exactly sneaking around you..." Conan trailed off, unable to come up with a reasonable excuse for his more than secretive behavior lately. He just didn't want Ai to get it into her head again that she had to try and run away, that was all! She had finally found a place where she seemed happy, after all, and honestly, he just wanted to protect that.

Of course, there was the fact that she was the only person he knew that was currently capable of creating an antidote to the Apotoxin, but that took a back seat to Ai's happiness, really.

"But it's true that what I need to talk to you about might relate to them." Conan told her. "Although I'm not one hundred percent sure. It's more of a hunch, really."

"I'm listening." Ai said simply, leaning her cheek into her hand.

"Recently, a girl came to the detective agency with a request for uncle. She said she was looking for her childhood friend." Conan began, opening up his backpack and pulling out a photograph. He'd been able to convince Ran to make him a copy as well, just in case, after promising her he'd show it around. "Apparently he's another high school detective, like me. He disappeared six months ago."

"A month before you were shrunk." Ai noted. "So, you're wondering if perhaps he could have shared your unfortunate fate?"

"Or worse." Conan said, passing her the photograph. "His name is Hattori Heiji, and he's from Osaka."

"Well, the picture's not familiar in the least, but," Ai began, glancing over the picture briefly, before passing it back to Conan. "You had better convince that uncle to give up. He's dead."

"That was more of a resolute answer than I expected." Conan confessed after a moment, almost forgetting to take the picture back from her until she held it out towards him again. "Are you sure, Haibara? I'm supposed to be dead myself, you know. You as well."

"I'm sure." Ai said, leaning back in her chair. "I told you before, right? That there's a list of everyone who has been given Apotoxin, right?"

"Yeah." Conan nodded. "You mentioned that my name was on the list, as being unconfirmed. What about it?"

"His name was there." Ai observed. "And unlike you, his death wasn't unconfirmed. The person who gave it around stayed around to make sure it worked. Apparently she wasn't in any hurry."

Conan's eyebrows knitted together in thought as he took in this new information. Something about it really didn't sit right with him. "But why would his childhood friend be looking for him if he's supposed to be dead?"

Perhaps his father had kept his death under wraps? He was the Superintendent Supervisor of Osaka's police, so it wasn't impossible. All the more so if his death had been under mysterious circumstances. But, if that was the case, he had a hard time imagining that he would be okay with Kazuha running around and searching for him on his her own. After all, she might run into trouble that way.

And there were two other things that bothered him. That Kazuha girl had mentioned that there had been things removed from his room- clothes and his wallet, mainly, something which Conan found curious. There was also Jodie's reaction to the photograph... something clearly didn't add up here. It was his intuition that told him that this wasn't as cut and dry of a case as Ai described it as.

"Who was it that fed him the poison?" Conan asked. He didn't picture Gin as the type to linger, and from the sound of it, he hadn't actually used the Apotoxin before he'd used it on him.

"Another scientist for the organization." Ai told him after a moment, her gaze leveling with Conan's. "If I recall correctly, her codename was Absinthe. Apparently she considered herself to be my rival, though I've never met her myself. From what little I heard of her, she didn't care very much for me. That was probably the reason she lingered to see if the drug really worked."

"Absinthe?" Conan frowned, putting a hand to his chin. That was a new name. "Do you know anything else about her?"

"You'd just go chasing off after her if I told you, right?" Ai asked coolly, before heaving a sigh. "But I really don't know anything else, Kudo-kun. She worked in a completely separate location from me, and I can't even tell you where."

Clicking his tongue, Conan heaved an irritated sigh. He had hoped maybe that he would have gotten a bit more of a lead here, but it seemed like it was no good. Scratching his head, he let himself collapse into one of the Professor's chairs. "There's something I don't like about this, Haibara."

"You're going to investigate it, aren't you?" Ai asked, peering over at him. "The disappearance of this Hattori Heiji."

"Yeah." Conan nodded his head. "Even if it's really like you said, and he's really dead, I might be able to pick up a trace of them if I look into the matter."

This new information had, after all, only managed to make him more curious about Jodie's reaction.  
_________________________________________________________

"It's a good thing everyone liked your cake, Ayumi!" Mitsuhiko remarked as he exited the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Headquarters alongside his friends, Ayumi and Genta. Usually Conan and Ai would have been alongside them, but it seemed like the two of them both had something important to do after class, and couldn't make it.

"Yeah!" Nodding her head, Ayumi held the cake box close to her chest. "Ayumi is happy as well! Maybe I've got a future as a cake baker in me?"

"I'd support you all the way, if that were the case!" Genta volunteered, beaming from ear to ear, his gaze drifting over towards the cake box. "Say, about that leftover piece..."

"It's not leftover!" Ayumi said with a huff. "I already told you, Genta-kun. I'm saving this piece for that nice onii-san!"

"Ah, that one who saved you the other day?" Mitsuhiko recalled. "It's a good thing that he was there when he did. Otherwise, those bad guys might have really carried you away!" Frowning, he folded his arms in front of his chest, looking slightly troubled. "But I wonder why he didn't stick around until the police showed up? It was almost like he vanished into thin air."

"Maybe he was just shy?" Ayumi ventured, though somehow, the explanation didn't sit quite well with her. The boy with the Osaka accent had seemed pretty outgoing during their brief encounter, so she had trouble imagining him having difficult interacting with other people out of shyness. Still, he had kept his face covered with the hood of his jacket the entire time...

"Maybe he's actually a bad guy, too!" Genta chimed in.

"That can't be!" Ayumi gave her friend a cross look. "He was a really nice onii-san! If he really was a bad person, he wouldn't have saved me in the first place!"

"Ayumi's right." Mitsuhiko agreed, nodding his head. "Maybe he was just a runaway. Adults have complicated circumstances after all..."

"That's true." Genta said after a moment. "But, how do you plan to find him in the first place, Ayumi? You can't give the cake to him if you don't even know where he is."

"Did you get his name?" Mitsuhiko asked, pulling out his notebook. This certainly looked like a job for the Detective Boys, even if there were only three of them here at the moment.

"No." Ayumi shook her head. "I didn't. All I know is that he spoke with an Osaka accent, and had really dark skin! You know, like that karate-oniichan that Ran-san's friend dates?"

"Dark skin with an Osaka accent..." Mitsuhiko mumbled to himself, scribbling this down in his notebook. "Was there anything else?"

"No." Ayumi shook her head. "I was thinking of returning to where I met him. Maybe he lives around there somewhere?"

"At the very least, we can start asking around there." Mitsuhiko nodded.

"Hey, what do you plan to do with the cake if you can't find him?" Genta asked, not even trying to conceal the slight bit of drool that trailed from his mouth. "It would be a waste if you had to throw it away!"

"I'm not giving it to you, Genta-kun." Ayumi frowned.  
__________________________________________

Hattori Heiji found himself letting out a rather loud sneeze.

Maybe Jodie had been onto something. Maybe he was starting to catch a cold, he wondered, though he also half felt that it would be impossible.

Tugging on his jacket's hood, to make sure it shadowed his face well, Heiji once again glanced over the text he'd gotten from Jodie. Of course, he'd left his cellphone at home- it was possible that they could trace him by that, after all. But he'd been able to acquire another one, thanks to the help of a certain person. A prepaid cellphone that could be paid for with cash, less likely to leave a trace. There were no numbers programmed into the phone, and he cleaned out the phone log and the message inbox for ever new one he received. Even with that, he knew it was somewhat of a gamble- but not having a cellphone might even be more of a problem.

It did, after all, let him get helpful messages like this much faster. Grumbling a little, he almost glowered at the content of the message, before he sent off a short reply, and deleted the message almost just as quickly.

_Your friend has hired a private detective to look for you, Hattori-kun. You might want to be a little more careful and lay low for awhile. The detective's name is Mouri Kogoro- who, incidentally, is helping to look after that cool kid from last evening._

There was a second message after that one, considerably less serious than the first.

_(Although it's really just his daughter doing most of the work of looking after the both of them.)_

"The Sleepin' Kogoro, huh?" He said aloud. Naturally, he'd heard about the private detective's rather interesting reputation. There were some people who had hailed him as a modern day Akechi Kogoro, but what had always caught Heiji's attention was his unusual 'habit' before solving cases. After all, what kind of detective went to sleep to solve a crime? It was weird no matter how you looked at it.

"'Sides, there's no way I could just sit still when there's clearly somethin' goin' on in this town." Heiji mumbled, tucking the cellphone away again. There was definitely that something Jodie wasn't telling him about her investigation into that Organization, he knew that much. He wasn't suspicious of her- he knew full well that her claims of being an undercover FBI agent were very much true, otherwise he never would have actually accepted her offer of hiding out at her apartment while he was here in Beika.

She just wasn't being very forthcoming, probably in part due to regulations, and in part due to the fact that she probably perceived him as just a kid. That irritated Heiji- he didn't like people underestimating him just because he was a teenager.

 _Well_ , he thought, after reflecting on it a little, _she probably just wants to keep me safe in spite of that._ It stuck out as a little ridiculous to him, really. What was the worst that could possibly happen to him at this point? He felt like he'd already gone through literally every worst case scenario since he'd started looking into those guy's activities, starting with trying to track down the one who poisoned him in the first place.

That had dead ended- pretty literally, in fact. Frankly, he was almost mad at the FBI for getting involved when they did- in spite of the situation he had found himself in. He definitely could have gotten himself out of that situation all on his own, he kept insisting to himself. Things would have worked out just fine even if they hadn't shown up, and that woman hadn't taken the extreme action of blowing up the entire lab, just so they couldn't get to any of her research.

That marked the second time he'd woken up on an autopsy table, and frankly, Heiji wasn't hoping for a third time.

"Well, puttin' that aside." Heiji lifted up his binoculars, peering across the street. This Agasa Hiroshi's house sure did stand out, especially when it was compared to the house right next to it. He'd found it kind of funny, actually, when he realized that the Professor that had caught Jodie's interest lived right next door to none other than Kudo Shinichi, the other high school detective that Heiji had always been compared to.

Just once, he'd like to meet that guy. Frankly, Heiji had almost considered asking him for help, but it seemed like the fellow high school detective had pulled a similar disappearing act in the month after Heiji's own... unfortunate mishap. He didn't know if it was related to those guys or not, but from what he gathered while he was here in Beika, it seemed that he still contacted that Neechan from the detective agency- the one who had been on TV not long ago- from time to time.

Come to think of it, that Edogawa Conan looked a bit like Kudo Shinichi, didn't he? And that reasoning he'd displayed yesterday... that was definitely no ordinary child. If Heiji didn't miss his mark, he probably had some kind of connection to his fellow missing high school detective.

Which was what brought him to spying on this Professor Agasa's house, perched securely in a tall, nearby tree across the street, his position concealing him well from the street. He'd spotted that 'cool kid' and another child going inside of the house- probably the girl that this Agasa person was looking after, he assumed.

He'd heard that Kudo Shinichi was a Powered- something which had, at the time, caused Heiji more than his fair share of annoyance, ironic, considering the current circumstances- but he didn't actually know what his ability was. It wasn't like Powered Children were made to disclose that kind of information to begin with- whether or not they wanted to be open with their abilities was entirely up to them. He'd heard that it was different in some places, and there certainly were still plenty of people who resented them in Japan, but it was far from a bad situation, especially now that people had over ten years to get used to them.

"Maybe he can shrink?" Heiji mused. "Or perhaps an illusion? Shapeshiftin'? No, there would be better forms to take on if that were the case, other than a kid, right? Well, granted, nobody would be suspicious of a child, usually, but..."

Maybe he should consider investigating Kudo's house. It didn't seem as if there was anyone living in it at the moment- he'd learned that his parents were both currently overseas. He supposed, technically, it would be breaking and entering, but at this point, Heiji had done worse.

Besides, if a private detective really was looking for him, he didn't know how much longer he'd be able to stay in this town. It wasn't like he wanted to leave, not while he knew that the FBI was in the middle of investigating one of the Black Organization's members, whose codename was apparently Vermouth, but he might want to consider relocating to the next city over, at the very least.

"Hm?" Blinking, he focused his attention back on the Agasa house. That Conan kid was coming out of the house again, a troubled expression on his face, judging from what Heiji could see through the binoculars.

And then he made the curious move of entering into the Kudo household. Quirking an eyebrow at that, Heiji couldn't help but flash a grin.

He was certain that this kid must have had some kind of connection to Kudo Shinichi, and he intended to find out how.  
________________________________________________

Heaving a sigh as she glanced down at the reply to her text message, Jodie's lips twisted in a frown. Somehow, she didn't feel Heiji's reassurances that he would be good were very convincing.

Quickly erasing the text messages, Jodie tucked her cellphone away in her jacket pocket, getting to her feet. She'd finished up what work she'd needed to take care of at the school, so there was no point in sticking around here anymore. She would have to swing by the supermarket to pick up some ingredients for dinner before heading home.

Grabbing her bag, she headed out of the teacher's room, making her way off campus. She had come to enjoy posing as a teacher quite a bit- and she had gotten more than a little fond of her students, especially the combination of Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko. She had to admit, she was a little surprised to find out that she had two Powered in her class (three, technically, she supposed, but considering Kudo Shinichi was never around, he basically didn't count), but she had quickly established that they were both good girls.

As she headed out of the gates of the school, her cellphone rang, and she wondered for a moment if the call was perhaps from Heiji. This idea was quickly dashed, however, as she recognized the number displayed on her phone.

"What is it, Shu?" Jodie asked, answering her phone. "It's rare for you to call me like this."

Although she had an inkling as to what it could be about.

There was a pause, before her fellow FBI agent, Akai Shuichi, responded. "I don't suppose you could make some time in your busy schedule as a teacher to arrange a meeting between the two of us, do you?"

"Is it important enough that we can't talk over the phone?" Jodie asked, her eyes narrowing. Had they discovered some new information?

"Well, not unless you want to chat about that boy you're hiding where anyone could hear you, that is."

Half opening up her mouth to deny Shuichi's claim, Jodie instead let out a deep breath. If he was speaking with that much certainty, there was no question that he knew. That was the sort of person Akai Shuichi was, after all.

"I know a rather private place to get coffee." Jodie replied finally. "Did the boss tell you?"

It was a silly question, she admitted that much. She didn't need to hear Shuichi's simple reply of 'no', to know that this clearly wasn't the case.

Heiji, she thought dimly, probably would not be pleased with this turn of events.


	3. East Meets West

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a high profile Powered goes missing, Heiji realizes that someone he thought was dead might very well still be alive. Likewise, Conan is rapidly coming to the conclusion that the supposedly dead Hattori Heiji is very much not so.

"So," Jodie began, sliding into a seat across from her coworker. "Exactly what was it that tipped you off the most?"

Akai Shuichi leveled his gaze at the blonde woman, setting down the can of coffee he had been drinking. Jodie decided to bite her tongue for the moment on a comment about the irony of drinking canned coffee in a coffee shop, this not the time nor place for such things.

"He puts too much stock in people thinking he's already dead. It's a wonder that he managed to hide for as long as he did." Shuichi noted simply, keeping his voice low to ward off any overly curious bystanders. Just to be extra cautious, he switched to English. "I suspected that you and the boss were hiding something ever since the raid on that laboratory failed. It wasn't hard to put two and two together after that."

Jodie heaved a slight sigh, deciding to take a long sip of coffee before she began the conversation in earnest. Well, it really came to no surprise to her that they hadn't been able to keep Hattori Heiji's existence a secret from Shuichi- he wasn't the FBI's star investigator for nothing. It was impressive enough that they'd managed to keep it a secret for this long, if anything.

"Have you asked James about him yet?" Jodie asked, setting down her coffee cup.

"No, not yet." Shuichi said. "I wanted to hear it from you first, since you're the one who has been keeping track of him this whole time."

"He's not going to be happy with this." Jodie noted. "It was hard enough to get him trust the boss and I to begin with. Considering you've had a connection with _them_ in the past, I get the feeling he won't like you much, Shu."

"Hm." Shuichi merely lifted a brow, taking another sip of his canned coffee. "And what's your opinion on this Hattori Heiji, then? Do you really trust him?"

"I trust he's not lying to us." Jodie said simply. "I do think he's definitely withholding information from us, but not technically lying to us, though I don't quite understand what his motives are for it. Perhaps he merely wishes to try and resolve the matter on his own. He's that sort of person."

"It must be troublesome, looking after him." Shuichi observed.

"To be frank- yes." Shrugging her shoulders, Jodie gave him a small smile. "If you tell him not to do something, there's a roughly eighty percent chance that he'll go out and do that thing anyways. His ability has probably made him even more reckless than he would be otherwise."

"If his ability is what I suspect it is, I can understand why a member of the Organization would be interested in him." Setting down his canned coffee, he fixed his gaze on Jodie. "Five bodies were recovered at the site of the lab, but only four bodies were turned over towards the police. That boy was the missing fifth one, wasn't he?"

"He was." Frowning, Jodie's grip tightened on her own coffee cup. "He seems to believe he's cursed by his own ability. I have to say that I agree, considering the trouble it's brought him. A boy his age should be at home, with his family, not hiding from some nefarious organization."

Looking up at Shuichi, she lowered her voice all the more, so only he could hear. "And? Have we been able to find anything more out? I haven't passed this information along to Hattori-kun yet, and I don't intend to, but James told me that you seem pretty convinced that Absinthe's body wasn't among the five corpses either."

With a nod of his head, Shuichi confirmed her suspicions. "Most likely she managed to escape. She wasn't a member that I'd interacted with during my time infiltrating _them_ , but I had at least vaguely heard of her reputation. Someone that stubborn wouldn't have accepted defeat that easily. Most likely she set off the explosion to cover her escape, and fled with all of her research. That's my theory."

"As for that boy, it's not really a question if she knows he's still alive or not. Without a doubt, she knows full well. It's only just a matter of _where_ , to her, no doubt." He reached into his jacket as he continued to speak, sliding a folder over towards her. "And most likely, she's continuing her research even now. Expanding it even, I'd say."

Taking the folder from him, Jodie briefly glanced inside of it, giving the contents a quick scan. Russian was not exactly her forte, but she could at least read it to some degree- it was asking her to speak it that was considerably more difficult. She did, at least, instantly recognize the girl pictured in the file, a young seventeen year old girl with bright blue eyes, and dark brown curls. She was often in the news, after all. "The Saint of Russia? What about her?"

"The story hasn't officially broken yet, but apparently she's been missing from her village for the past two weeks. They've been keeping the story under wraps since then, but it seems like they're going to go public with it in the end." Shuichi explained.

"I see." Closing the file, Jodie rubbed her forehead. "That means it's only a matter of time before Hattori-kun hears about this himself. He'll probably figure out the rest himself afterwards."

The Saint of Russia, as the media had dubbed her- her real name was Maria Alkaev- was another of the Powered Children. At first she wasn't known as such, having been born in a remote village in Russia, where her powers were hailed as a miracle and a gift from god from those who were not aware of the strange phenomena that had gripped the rest of the world. It wasn't until she was fourteen years old that the girl, and her miraculous healing powers, had been classified as a Powered. Since then, she had gone on to help countless people suffering from ailments and injuries across the board. There were many people who still viewed her as a real gift from Heaven, it seemed.

Someone with her miracle-like healing powers would have doubtlessly caught the interest of a woman who had gone to such lengths to obtain Heiji as her research sample.

"What do we know of Maria's kidnapping?" Jodie asked.

"Very little." Shuichi admitted after a moment. "As one would expect, Russian officials don't appear to be very interested in working closely with us. It seems like they are determined to solve this matter on their own."

"Well, that much is to be expected, unfortunately." Making a small face, Jodie tucked the folder back away in her bag. "If that's the case, she's probably searching for Hattori-kun herself. We may have to consider relocating him."

"Supposing he agrees to cooperate with us." Shuichi noted, finishing off his can of coffee.

Heaving a deep sigh, Jodie felt something of a headache coming on. "Yes." She said, her tone blunt. "That is the problem, isn't it?"  
_________________________________________________________________

When the news of the disappearance of the Powered known as the Saint of Russia broke, Heiji had been one of the first to hear about it. As fate would have it, Jodie had been there to watch it happen. He had received a phone call, apparently from the 'certain person' who had acquired it for him in the first place, and after a brief conversation, he all but stomped over towards the television and flicked it on, quickly switching to the nearest news channel.

As one would expect for someone of her status, her disappearance was generating a lot of news coverage. Finally, Heiji thanked the person on the other side of the phone, before he hung up, tucked it away, and turned back towards her, giving her a suspicious look.

"Did ya know about this?" He asked, pointing towards the television. She had told him, of course, that her coworker, Akai Shuichi, was now aware of his existence, and as she predicted, he hadn't been happy about it. He had a certain paranoia, understandable given his circumstances, which seemed to make him extra cautious of the people he chose to give his trust to.

He didn't exactly like it when someone found out things he was trying to hide on their own. The precious few people he implicitly trusted, he seemed to hold close to him. Like, for example, whoever it was who had given him that phone in the first place, and whoever it was who had been hiding him in Nagano for so long. Jodie suspected they were the same person, and although she had naturally gone fishing for information, she hadn't turned up anything too concrete. She suspected they were involved with the police, at least, but that still left a whole wealth of suspects.

"I only learned about it myself just a few hours ago, Hattori-kun." Jodie said softly. It wouldn't do if Heiji's trust in her was broken over something like this. He needed all of the allies he could get- she knew that much from personal experience. She too, after all, had once been an angry teenager filled with a desire for revenge against someone that had wronged her in a way that nothing could fix.

For a moment, unbidden, an image of her father came to her mind, but she forced it away. She had other things to focus on right now.

"I wasn't trying to hide it from you." Jodie told him. "But we didn't have much concrete information about the matter. It doesn't appear like the Russian officials in charge of the investigation seem very intent on involving the FBI."

Narrowing his eyes, Heiji eventually heaved an irritated sigh, turning back around to watch the ongoing news coverage again. "It's her, ain't it?" He asked, glancing back at Jodie out of the corner of his eye. "Or are ya supposed to be keepin' me from findin' that out too, Miss FBI Investigator?"

"Hattori-kun," Jodie began, getting to her feet. Placing a hand on her shoulder, she gave it a small squeeze. "Believe it or not, I have at least some idea of what you're feeling right now. I can assure you, the only reason we're not telling you everything is because we're concerned for your safety."

"I don't need yer concern." Shrugging off her hand, Heiji nevertheless seemed to cool down at least a little. He had heard about Jodie's parents from the woman herself, and it was part of what made him trust to begin with. Rather than the story itself, it was the look in her eyes as she told it- especially when she spoke of the woman who had killed them. She'd have to be one hell of an actress to fake an expression like that.

"Hattori-kun." Jodie began again, her brows knitting together in concern. "In case you've forgotten, you're only a seventeen year old boy. A child, really. You've already gotten yourself involved in enough danger, you really should leave the rest of this up to us."

"An' like I keep sayin', I can't do that." Heiji said, scratching his head in annoyance. "I'm already involved in this mess. I'd rather do somethin' to solve it than just spend all my time hidin', hopin' that they don't find me again. There's no way I can just sit still knowin' all this is goin' on right under my nose."

Letting in and taking out a deep breath, Jodie's shoulders slumped. She already knew there full well there was no getting through to him in this matter. If she had it her way, frankly, then Heiji would have been sent as far away from Japan as possible. He was already too recognizable here, from his dark skin and his strong Osakan accent alone. But there was no way she could convince him to do that, so at the very least, she wanted him somewhere where she could keep an eye on him.

Honestly, it was _exactly_ like looking after a very troublesome child, she found herself thinking sometimes.

"Alright, Hattori-kun." She said finally. "I understand. But please, don't go off and act on your own without letting someone know first. If this Absinthe really is still alive, you're in the most danger of anyone."

"Hah?" Turning around on his heel, Heiji arched an eyebrow. "Danger? What's the worse she could do to me, that she hadn't already done back then? I'm not afraid of that sort of thing anymore."

"And that's the problem." Jodie said, her tone sharp. "You're _supposed_ to be afraid of those sorts of things, Hattori-kun, at least a little." Heaving a sigh, she found herself rubbing her forehead again, trying to stave off the threat of a headache. "If not for yourself, _at least_ worry about yourself for the sake of your parents, and that Toyama girl. They're all worried about you, you know? She even came all this way to Beika just to hire a private detective just to find you."

Though he grumbled about it, at the very least it seemed clear that she'd gotten through to Heiji at least a little. "Fine. I'll be more careful. But I'm just lettin' ya know- I don't really like hidin'."

"Yes, that's something I've become _infinitely_ aware of."  
_________________________________________________

"What's got Ayumi-chan so depressed?" Conan asked, frowning a little as he looked over at the unusually deflated looking grade school girl, who was slumped over her desk. "It's rare to see her this down."

"She couldn't find the person she was looking for." Mitsuhiko told him, taking his seat. "And what's more, the cake got ruined while we were searching."

"Ahh." Conan nodded his head, quickly guessing the situation. "She wanted to give a piece of the cake she made to that person who saved her, right? If you had called me, I would have helped you look for him, you know."

"But it seemed like you and Haibara-san had something else to do." Mitsuhiko pointed out. Besides, it wasn't like they could just rely on Conan for everything, he thought. He had assumed they'd be at least capable of doing this much on their own. "We didn't want to bother you."

"Maybe you should help them out today?" Ai suggested, glancing over towards Conan, before she came to a stop in front of Ayumi's desk, giving her friend a small smile. "You can always make another cake, Yoshida-san. I'll help you."

"I know." Ayumi nodded, still seeming a bit glum. "I was just really proud of this one! Everyone at the station really praised Ayumi's cake, so I was looking forward to giving a piece to that person as well."

"In the end, we couldn't even learn his name." Genta frowned, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Are you sure he's not a bad guy, Ayumi? After all, he hid his face, and left just before the police arrived and everything. He's probably mixed up in something bad!"

"If that was the case, why would he save Ayumi-chan in the first place?" Conan asked. "He might just be a runaway."

"That's what I said!" Mitsuhiko nodded, seeming more than a little excited that his theory was approved by Conan. "He probably just didn't want to get involved with the police because he didn't want to get taken back home."

"So?" Ai took her seat, glancing back at Ayumi. "Did you manage to find out anything at all?"

"Not much." Ayumi shook her head. "We ran into some people who had seen him before, but they didn't know anything about him. Not where he lived, or even his name."

"Are you going to look for him again today?" Conan asked. Well, it wasn't really something he needed to get himself involved in, but he didn't really like seeing Ayumi this bummed out. He did, after all, have problems of his own to worry about- like Jodie-sensei's mysterious behavior, and the missing and possibly dead Hattori Heiji. Still, he supposed he could take a little bit of time to help them out.

"Yes." Ayumi nodded her head, seeming to recover a bit of her determination. "Will you come with us, Conan-kun? I'm sure we could find him a lot faster with you around."

"I don't know." Conan frowned, thinking it over for a second. Well, an hour or so wouldn't hurt, he guessed. "Well, maybe I can find a bit of time. Do you know what he looks like, Ayumi-chan? I think you mentioned last time he spoke in the Kansai dialect..." Trailing off a little, Conan frowned, his own words striking something of a chord in him.

"A really heavy one!" Ayumi nodded her head. "I couldn't really see much of his face because of his hood, but he had dark skin!"

"You would think a guy like that would stick out more in people's memories." Mitsuhiko noted, frowning a little as he glanced over at Conan. "Is something wrong, Conan-kun? That's quite the look on your face."

A heavy Kansai dialect, and dark skin? No, there was no way, right? There certainly had to be other people who fit that description- to think that someone who was supposed to be dead, the same person he was looking for, was right under the noses? What were the odds of that?

Glancing over at Ai, she shook her head, seeming to catch his line of thought. Turning towards Ayumi, she decided to ask what Conan was no doubt thinking. "Was he young looking?"

"Mm, I think so." Ayumi nodded her head, putting a finger to her chin in thought. "I think he looked a bit like a high school student, maybe. Though I can't really say for sure."

Reaching into his backpack, Conan pulled out the picture he had kept in there. "Is there any chance he looks like this person, Ayumi-chan?" He asked, passing it over towards her.

A spark of recognition lit up in her eyes, confirming his theory. "That's right! It's a little hard to tell because he was hiding his face, but I'm pretty sure that's him!" Blinking she frowned a little at the photo in hand, glancing over towards Conan. "Why do you have this photo, Conan-kun?"

"Was I right? Was he really a bad guy?" Genta volunteered, stretching forward a little in hopes of seeing the photo himself.

"He vanished six months ago from Osaka." Conan replied without thinking, and quickly came to regret the action. If it really was Hattori Heiji who Ayumi had met, then letting them continue to chase after him could be dangerous. Glancing over towards Ai, he recognized that calculating look on her face- no doubt she was already going over various possibilities in her head.

After all, it had only been a week ago since Ayumi had been rescued by that guy. Not only did that mean he was alive, but he had somehow emerged, unharmed, from being forced to take Apotoxin. He should have at least shrunk as a result, and yet if Ayumi recognized him from this photo so quickly, he probably hadn't changed at all.

Something definitely didn't add up here.

"So he really was a runaway then!" Mitsuhiko's words almost had Conan letting out a sigh of relief. Maybe it would be best if he convinced the three of them that was the case. As long as Ayumi got to meet the guy once and thank him, she probably wouldn't pursue him any further.

"Yeah." Conan nodded his head. "His childhood friend came to Uncle's agency to hire him to find him."

"See?" Ayumi looked back at Genta, handing the photo back to Conan. "I told you he wasn't a bad guy."

Frowning, Conan took the photo back from Ayumi, tucking it away in his backpack. So this Hattori Heiji really was here in Beika after all, provided he hadn't moved on since his encounter with Ayumi. That, combined with Jodie's reaction to seeing his picture, and the description of the person she was hiding in her apartment was more than enough for Conan to draw the conclusion that he had to be the one that she was hiding.

But why? What connection did Jodie have to him? She was obviously giving him freedom to come and go as he pleased, so it wasn't like he was a prisoner or anything like that. Besides, nobody would be stupid enough to keep someone confined in a bustling apartment complex for a long period of time- someone would notice something eventually.

It was that cold trickle down the back of his neck that told Conan he was on the brink of involving himself in something big here. And maybe, just maybe, if he played his cards right- he'd get some information on them.  
_________________________________________________________

Hattori Heiji was troubled.

Not by the news that the so-called Saint of Russia had vanished, not by the news that this 'Akai Shuichi' coworker of Jodie's had found out he was hiding in her apartment. Not even by the news that Absinthe was probably still alive, which was something he'd already been suspecting to begin with.

No, what he was troubled by were photographs.

Or the lack of them.

"It just ain't normal to have collected this many pictures, an' only show 'em up to middle school." Heiji mused, staring at the collection of photographs in front of him. He'd followed through on his thought from yesterday, and had decided to do a little hands on investigation into the missing Kudo Shinichi- via breaking into his house. Of course, he'd taken every precaution not to leave any obvious traces of himself- though he guessed if this Kudo guy was as good as they said he was, he'd probably notice anyways.

This was, technically, he supposed, a crime. That said, when you were living your life on the run, it was sort of inevitable that you had to break the law every once in awhile. If his father knew about it, he'd chew him out to no end, though.

Well, it was in pursuit of a mystery, so it was no big deal, Heiji thought. After all, he was certain that this Conan kid must have some connection with Kudo Shinichi. There was no way he didn't! The big question in Heiji's mind was if this was just some kind of simple connection, or if somehow, Edogawa Conan was also Kudo Shinichi.

After all, those hadn't been the deduction abilities of your average first grade student, no matter how much he'd tried to mask it with childish expressions.

The fact that there were no childhood photographs of Kudo Shinichi anywhere in this house definitely made him curious. It also looked like the clothing from his childhood that had been otherwise saved, had been picked through, and not all that long ago. Plus the fact that he had spotted that kid entering the house to begin with... it was suspicious.  
"But why a kid?" Heiji mused, folding his arms in front of his chest. "If he just wanted to hide fer some reason, there's better forms to take than a grade school student. An' why would he need to hide anyways? If he's supposed to be as great of a detective as they say he is, what could have possibly forced him into a corner?"

"Unless he didn't have a choice about the form?" Frowning, Heiji scratched the back of his head, trying to puzzle it over. This might be easier if he knew exactly what ability Shinichi was supposed to have. Frankly, the only reason he even knew that his fellow high school detective was a Powered was from an old interview of his- one where he had declined to elaborate on his ability, much to his interviewer's disappointment.

It was probably listed in his medical records, and Heiji briefly entertained the thought of obtaining them- but somehow he didn't think that was among his best ideas.

Perhaps he should reframe his way of thinking. Perhaps he should start questioning _why_ Kudo Shinichi had disappeared in the first place?

Heiji's first thought, of course, was _them_.

According to his own investigation, Kudo Shinichi had vanished five months ago. That was a month after he'd been poisoned by that woman, and had been forced to go into hiding himself. But if he was really hiding from them, why would he do something as reckless as to sometimes call that girl from the detective agency?

Well, if he were disguised as a grade school student, even the Organization might have trouble finding him. Perhaps it allowed him some measure of comfort.

"Maybe I should just meet the kid." Heiji mused, nodding to himself. No doubt Jodie would kill him for it, after she'd taken the pains to hide him during Conan's sudden visit, but honestly, it would be the fastest way to get answers. And if he really was dealing with the same Organization that he was, two heads would definitely be better than one in this case.

"Yep. That's what I'll do!" Beaming to himself, Heiji decided that the least he could do was send Jodie a message to give her fair warning- not that he'd let her stop him, that is.

 _'I'm going to go meet the cool kid.'_  
____________________________________________________________

"What do you think, Haibara?" Hanging in the back of the group with his fellow shrunken teenager, Conan dropped his voice to a whisper. "If it's really Hattori Heiji that Ayumi-chan ran into, then he's definitely not dead."

"I can't really say for certain." Ai glanced over at him, keeping her voice quiet as well. "I can't think that woman would have lied about the poison working. Given what I've heard of her, if she had, my supposed failure would have spread through the Organization like wildfire. I'd have been deemed worthless a lot earlier."

"Maybe she didn't really confirm it?" Conan frowned. "No, that doesn't sound right. Do you really not know anything else about this Absinthe woman?"

"Only that she's stubborn. The type whose really adamant to get results, no matter what." Ai said, shrugging her shoulders. "And she dislikes smoke. Aside from that, I really don't know anything. There were plenty of things that the Organization didn't want me to know, after all."

"Do you at least know what she was researching?" Conan asked, grumbling as Ai shook her head. "Of course not."

"Are you certain that trying to meet this Hattori Heiji is really the best idea though, Kudo-kun?" Ai asked, her gaze briefly flickering towards the rest of the Detective Boys, checking to see if they were still occupied. They were currently asking one of the shopkeepers working on the shopping street near to where Ayumi had first met Heiji about him, and it didn't look like they were having much luck.

"What do you mean?" Conan asked, frowning a little.

"If he did survive somehow, it's not impossible that he might have agreed to work for them." Ai told him. "That person might also not be the real Hattori Heiji, either."

"No, I think if they had recruited him, then it wouldn't make any sense for him to pull this kind of disappearing act in the first place. He'd get a lot more information staying where he was." Conan told her, having given the possibility some thought before. "After all, his father is the highest ranking member of Osaka's police force. That's nothing to sneeze at."

"That's true." Ai admitted, closing her eyes. "Well, I think you'll want to meet him no matter what, though. After all, if it's true, he's probably somewhat similar to you."

"Luckier, though." Conan grimly noted, glancing down at his all too tiny body. "Ah, but maybe if we study him, we can figure out a way to return to normal ourselves?"

"It's possible." Ai shrugged her shoulders, before locking eyes with Conan. "But Kudo-kun. Do you really think he's lucky, this Hattori Heiji?"

"What do you mean?" Conan blinked. "What could be luckier than surviving being poisoned with Apotoxin without shrinking? Well, I guess it would make it a little harder for him to hide, though..."

"You should probably think about why he might have survived." Ai warned him. "Otherwise it's possible you might say something that would offend him, if he's really who he says he is, and you really do end up getting involved with him. All I'm saying is, choose your words carefully, Kudo-kun."

"Alright, I get it." Conan grumbled a little, before breaking away from her to go join the other three Detective Boys.  
_______________________________________________________

_'I'm going to go meet the cool kid.'_

They were just eight words in a text message, and they instantly sent Jodie's blood pressure skyrocketing. Taking in and letting out a deep breath, she rubbed her forehead, trying to get rid of what was surely another headache.

Honestly, she liked Heiji well enough, but he certainly could be a handful. Jodie herself still hadn't figured out what this Edogawa Conan boy's link to the Black Organization could be, and here Heiji was, saying that he was going to go meet the very person she'd been busying hiding him from just the other day.

Reckless was a good word for this boy.

"Are you feeling unwell, Jodie-sensei?"

Startled out of her thoughts, Jodie quickly closed out of the e-mail, looking up at the person who had expressed concern with a small smile. "No, I'm fine. Just a bit short on sleep. Thank you for worrying, Araide-sensei."

"It's not good to be losing sleep." Araide observed, giving her a small frown. "I know a good herbal tea that can help with that sort of thing, if you're interested."

"No, it's really fine." Jodie insisted, putting away her cellphone for now. "You really don't have to worry about me. More importantly, what brings you to the teacher's room?"

"I came to get the key to the basketball club room. One of the members left something there yesterday." He said, holding up the key in question. "But you know, Jodie-sensei, if there's something troubling you, you can always come consult with me. The nurse's office isn't just for students, after all."

"I'll keep it in mind." Jodie said, giving him her best smile. Of all the people that she didn't want to make suspicious of her, it was this man- Tomoaki Araide.

No, that wasn't right. This man wasn't Tomoaki Araide. They weren't even really a man at all.

_Vermouth._

It took every fiber of control to not expose herself in front of this woman, right here, and right now. But it wasn't time yet. If she confronted her here, she'd surely just slip through their fingers again. After their earlier failure at the lab in Gunma, they couldn't afford to let another member of that Organization slip through their fingers.

"That's good." Araide gave her another smile. "Then, I need to meet up with that student. If you'll excuse me."

Jodie only let her held breath escape once she was certain that Vermouth was gone. Taking a moment to collect herself, she remembered Heiji's message, and quickly pulled out her phone again, shooting him one of her own.

_'Don't you dare'._

A few seconds later, a response came her way.

_'Too late! <3!'_

If this was what being a mother was like, Jodie thought, then she wasn't sure she ever wanted to have any part in that.  
__________________________________________________________

Perhaps this search for his fellow missing high school detective had been a good thing after all, Ai thought to herself, an amused grin on her face. After all, it wasn't often that she got to see him this speechless.

Which was exactly the state that Conan found himself in when none other than the very person he'd been looking for had just casually strolled up to them, greeting them like it was no big deal.

"Yo! I heard you guys have been looking fer me!" With a broad smile and a flash of white teeth that stood out even in the shadow of his jacket's hood, none other than supposedly missing, supposedly dead, Hattori Heiji, casually greeted the Detective Boys, kneeling down in front of Ayumi. "Yer that girl from the other day, aint'cha? What've you been lookin' fer me for?"

"I'm Yoshida Ayumi!" Ayumi quickly introduced herself, her mood instantly lifted now that her quest had been completed. "Um, I was looking for you to thank you, onii-san! For that other day!"

"Oh, is that so?" Heiji asked, reaching over to ruffle her hair. He'd actually spotted the hard to miss quintet awhile back, and had been following them a little. Once he gleaned that the girl with the headband had been asking around about him, he had decided that this was as good an opening as any to approach none other than Edogawa Conan- or possibly Kudo Shinichi, if he didn't miss his guess. "Ya didn't need to go to all that trouble, though! I was just glad to help ya out!"

Recovering from his shock, Conan decided to interject himself into this conversation as quickly as possible. Seeing Hattori Heiji in the flesh really brought everything home to him- the fact that there was definitely something more going on here, judging from his very alive, very _not seven_ appearance. Just as Ayumi had said earlier, he was partially concealing his face by using the hood of his jacket, leaving the upper half of his face somewhat shadowed. Some of this clothes looked like they had seen more wear than the usual- especially his shoes, which Conan noticed almost seemed to be on the verge of falling apart.

"Hey, onii-san, what's your name?" Conan piped up, trying to put on his best child act. For that moment, he hadn't decided if he trusted this person yet- that remained to be seen. "We all want to thank you properly for helping Ayumi-chan out, you know!"

"That's right!" Genta piped up, apparently any suspicions about this guy being a 'bad guy' having been driven out upon meeting the guy. "Ayumi's an important member of our group!"

"Oh? Your group?" Heiji asked, and Conan narrowed his eyes as he noticed how he seemed to brush off his question. "Like a club or somethin'?"

"That's right!" Mitsuhiko was the next to chime in. "We're the Detective Boys!"

"The Detective Boys, huh?" Heiji couldn't help but grin a little. What, so it was a group of kids, acting like detectives? That was kind of nostalgic, in it's own way. He'd done very much the same thing when he was their age, if he recalled correctly, usually dragging Kazuha along with him. "That's great! What kind of cases do ya solve?"

"We'll solve anything!" Genta proclaimed, pounding his chest. "As the club leader, I'll take on any case, no matter how difficult it is!"

"You say that, but it's usually Conan-kun who solves the case." Ayumi pointed out, glancing back towards Conan. "Isn't that right, Conan-kun?"

"Eh, is that so?" Heiji asked, grinning as he looked over towards Conan. This kid was giving him strange looks whenever he thought that he wasn't looking at him, Heiji hadn't missed that fact. Of course, the girl standing right beside him hadn't even been trying to hide her expression- that was the girl who was living at that Professor's house, wasn't she? Looking at her up close, she somehow looked strangely familiar- though he wasn't sure why.

Maybe just one of those faces?

"Ya must be real smart, if that's the case, Conan-kun." Heiji grinned, standing back up at his full height, tucking his hands inside of his pockets. "Then, how about I take ya hard workin' detective kids somewhere to get some food? Like that ramen place over there."

"I don't think we should go with someone who won't even give his name." Conan pointed out, masking his intentions behind his childlike expression.

"Oh, yer right." Heiji blinked, not missing the fact that this was the second time the kid had asked after his name. "I'm Heiji. An' aside from Conan-kun and Ayumi-chan here, I haven't caught any of yer names either."

"I'm Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko, and this is Kojima Genta." Mitsuhiko began to introduce the remaining members of the Detective Boys. "And this is Haibara Ai."

"Charmed." Ai said, her tone giving off the impression of being anything but.

"Oh, well it's great to meet the whole lot of ya." Heiji continued to beam. "So? Ya wanna get some ramen? My treat."

With a resounding 'we'll go!' from the three actual children of the Detective Boys, the quintet followed Heiji into the ramen place. Hanging back a bit, Conan exchanged a look with Ai.

"So? Do you feel anything?" Conan asked, frowning a little as Ai shook her head.

"I'm not feeling anything malicious off of him, if that's what you're asking." Ai whispered. "He's definitely has an interest in you though, Kudo-kun. That much I can sense. I'd need to actually touch him to know more."

"Then, try to take the seat next to him." Conan suggested. "Although I won't force you to use your power if you don't want to, Haibara."

"I'll do it." Ai said, quickly resolving herself. "But only because I don't think he's hiding that much darkness to begin with."

"Yeah, if he's acting, he's doing a really good job of it." Conan quirked an eyebrow. "I'm not sure what I was expecting from the high school detective of the West, but for some reason, I pictured someone a bit more serious."

"Well, personally I find it refreshing." Ai said simply, before quickening her pace, sliding into the seat next to Heiji. Conan had to settle for the seat next to her, as Ayumi quickly took the other free seat beside Heiji. He couldn't help but note that even while inside the restaurant, Heiji still didn't lower his hood.

"Well, order anythin' ya like!" Heiji beamed, noting with a quick sigh of relief that the prices at this shop seemed to be rather cheap after all. In hindsight, perhaps inviting five kids to eat ramen with him wasn't the best idea when he was running on limited funds. It was sure was convenient to be living with someone again, he thought- he didn't have to worry about where his next meal was coming from anymore.

Well, it wasn't like he would die from starvation or anything, but running on empty still wasn't pleasant.

With their ramen orders made, and quickly delivered, the Detective Boys clamored in excitement as the bowls were set in front of them. Genta, especially, wasted no time in digging into his, enthusiastically slurping the noodles down.

For the moment, Conan decided to eat his own bowl of ramen, briefly sparing a glance in Heiji's direction as he did so. He frowned a little, noticing that the boy almost seemed to be frozen in place for a moment, as if caught in the middle of the act of eating- before he seemed to suddenly snap back into motion, shaking it off. It was hard to tell because of his hood, but he almost seemed to frown at the bowl in front of him, setting his chopsticks down.

"Is something wrong with your ramen, Heiji-niichan?" Conan asked, peering over at him.

"No, it's flavor is just kinda weird." Heiji said quickly. "Maybe it's just me?"

"Really? Maybe I should give it a try to check!" Conan offered, unable to keep the curious expression off of his face as Heiji almost seemed to flinch, quickly shaking his head.

"It's okay, ya don't have to do somethin' like that!" Heiji said quickly, scooting the bowl away from the chopsticks that Conan had tried to place in them- earning him the ire of Ai, who was sitting right in between the two.

There wasn't long to dwell on this odd behavior, however, as moments later, there was a soft thud, followed by a clatter- and that was followed by the sound of screams.

On the floor behind them, a man had collapsed, falling from his chair. His hands were clutched near his throat, and his face was distorted with pain.

And almost just as quickly, both Conan and Heiji got up from their seats, and over to the collapsed person.

Or rather- the corpse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN- Your friendly reminder from your author that if you actually want to encourage the authors of your favorite fanfics to update, to not harass them about it! Seriously, there's nothing we like less than inconsiderate and rude comments demanding that we update ASAP- fanfic does not magically manifest itself after all, and takes time to write. This note, unfortunately, inspired by a very rude comment received earlier. It sure is a good thing I've got comment moderation on so I could flick it off into the atmosphere!


	4. Murder, They Wrote

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally coming into contact with Hattori Heiji, Conan's investigation of his fellow high school detective is cut short by a murder. But in the end, he may have very well gained himself a valuable new ally- provided he can actually talk Heiji into fully trusting him, that is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: The fourth chapter is here! Thanks to everyone who has stuck with this fic so far, and everyone who is reading it for the first time!

"I should have known I'd find you lurking around here, Conan-kun." Megure Juzo let out a long sigh. When they'd gotten a call about a murder at a local ramen shop, he'd gotten a bad feeling about it- one that was usually followed by the regular appearance of none other than Edogawa Conan, the unusual boy who was currently under the care of Mouri Kogoro, a private detective. The detective himself wasn't accompanying Conan today, but it appeared that his young friends, the Detective Boys, were filling that role today. He half expected to see Professor Agasa with them, but the portly professor was nowhere to be found.

There was, however, a new face with him today- at least from what Megure could see of it.

"Ya show up a lot around dead bodies, kid?" The young man in question asked, his heavy Osakan accent becoming immediately apparent, from the kneeling position he'd taken up in front of the corpse. The bespectacled boy was lingering around him, casting him the occasional odd look. "Sounds like this uncle is talkin' bout ya like yer a jinx."

Frankly, Conan has half surprised that he hadn't bolted when the police arrived. But then again, perhaps that scent of a mystery was simply too compelling for his fellow high school detective to turn away from. To be honest, it was the same with him- but perhaps this would be a good chance, Conan thought. This was a good opportunity to see what the supposed Detective of the West, Hattori Heiji, was like in action.

"And?" Megure arched a brow, looking down at the dark skinned young man. "Who might you be?"

Standing up, Heiji flashed the police officer a grin. "Me?" He asked, pointing towards himself, seeming to mull over the question for just a second. There was a chance the officer might want to see some kind of identification, so exactly which card did he have on him today? He'd obtained several of them from Jodie just in case. Ah, that's right, that was the one!

"Takahara Akira. I'm a university student." Heiji replied, lying through his teeth, of course. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Conan quirk an eyebrow, though he quickly moved to silence his fellow Detective Boys when they attempted to express their confusion over the fact that he had given the police officers a different name. The bespectacled young boy seemed to whisper something to them as a group, and they quickly nodded, all seeming to come to an agreement.

"I was treatin' these five to some ramen today, when this old guy suddenly collapsed." Heiji said, glancing back towards where the corpse still lay, his eyes still wide with a mixture of shock and pain. "It's poison, ain't it?"

"Well, we'll need to get our lab to analyze it first, but that seems likely." Megure said, blinking slightly, before the portly detective frowned. He hadn't possibly run into another person who styled themselves as a detective? The recent addition of that foreign woman was enough, he didn't need any more to join their ranks. "Naturally, if it's poison, the most suspicious ones are the three sitting with the victim." He continued, casting a glance towards the three people who had been sharing a table with the victim.

"No way!" One of them, the only woman of the group, protested loudly. "We would have never done such a thing to Takeru!"

"Ain't there another possibility, though?" Heiji tilted his head, glancing back in the direction of the kitchen. "There's nobody better suited fer puttin' poison in food than one of the members of the staff."

"That's certainly true." Megure admitted after a moment, before sending a small glower towards Heiji's direction. That Conan sure knew how to find meddlesome people. Although there was something about this guy that was bothering him slightly- he thought it was just a bit unusual that he still had his hood up even inside of a restaurant.

Well, it might have also just been some kind of new trend. He really didn't understand young people these days, after all.

"Bring out the members of the kitchen staff." Megure turned towards Takagi. "And also the wait staff as well."

"Yes sir!" Takagi gave him a quick salute, before scrambling to do just that. In short order, the employees of the shop had been lined up alongside those sitting with the victim. He'd been identified as one Moriyama Takeru, a freelance magazine writer who was apparently out for lunch with some other writers who worked on one of the magazines that he sometimes published his works in.

Casting another glance in Heiji's direction, Conan couldn't help but wonder why he'd been so quick to pinpoint the shop's employees. It was true that he had a point that they might be involved, but he got the feeling that Heiji hadn't even considered the people that had been sitting with the victim as possible culprits in the first place. It could have just been carelessness, but somehow he didn't think that was the case. It felt like he knew something that Conan didn't, and that was never a feeling that the pint-sized detective cared for.

Judging from the faint almond aroma that came from the corpse's mouth, it was most likely potassium cyanide that had been used. The poison of choice, Conan couldn't help but think grimly. The question, of course, was when and how it had gotten into the ramen in the first place. Judging from what the witnesses said, the man had collapsed shortly after taking his first bite, and while that might hint towards the members of the staff, it was also possible that one of those sitting near him might have been able to do it as well.

Turning his attention to the employees, Conan noted that they consisted of three people- two people working to make the ramen, and one waitress. They all looked nervous, but that in itself wasn't that unusual- someone had just died in their shop, after all. Even if it was revealed to be one of the people sitting with the man who had done it, there was no doubt that their shop would take a hit after this.

And, as he quickly noted, it appeared that Heiji was already interviewing them. Conan's brow furrowed as he glanced between the two groups of suspects, wondering which set he should be paying the most attention to. Megure was already in the process of interviewing those sitting with the victim, it seemed.

Now was the time to divide and conquer, he guessed.

"Hey, you guys." Conan spoke up, turning towards the Detective Boys. "Haibara, you and the others listen to what the group that Inspector Megure have to say. I'll listen to these guys over here." He said, glancing back towards the employees.

"Are you curious about his methods of handling things?" Ai asked lightly, sparing Conan a glance.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't." Conan admitted, before quickly inserting himself by Heiji's side. He noticed that the dark skinned boy spared him a brief glance, a spark of interest lighting up on his face- before he turned back towards the three suspects he was questioning. There was no mistake- Heiji was just as interested in him, as Conan was in him. But why?

If he really was living in Jodie's apartment, then he might have been able to overhear the deduction show that he had put on with her the other day. He knew that Jodie was curious about him as well, he was no fool in regards to that- and it appeared that this curiosity had extended to her possible ward, in that case. Had she sent out Heiji to investigate him further? No, he didn't think she would do something that risky, if she was indeed trying to hide him in the first place.

Most likely it was the Osakan detective's own idea, then.

Splitting his attention between Heiji and the three suspects, Conan took a mental note of when Heiji attempted to reach up behind his head, as if he were expecting to grab something- only to remember that there was nothing there, and awkwardly put his hand back down. Some kind of habit, probably, Conan thought, before he turned his attention on the trio that he had assembled before him.

"I don't see why we have to talk to you." One of the men began, folding his arms in front of his chest, giving the teenage detective a rather stern look. He was middle-aged and looked rather rough around the edges. "You're not with the police, are you? Shouldn't you leave this to them?"

"It's true that I'm not with the police, an' it's true that ya don't have to talk to me, but well," Shrugging his shoulders, Heiji flashed them a wide grin. "Consider it a time saver. Ya don't wanna be held up here forever, right? After all, a guy just keeled over in the middle of yet shop- that can't be good for business."

"Tell me about it." The waitress heaved a sigh. Conan couldn't help but notice the way her gaze lingered on Heiji, giving him something of a strange look. "And I just got this job recently too. What am I going to do if this place folds because of this?"

"I don't think we'll fold just because of something like this." The third suspect spoke up, this one a younger man. An apprentice of some kind, perhaps, Conan thought. "I'll talk with you, at least. I'm Kagawa Hitoshi. I'm currently learning how to make ramen from the master here. This young lady here is Hamaguchi Rin, and like she said, we just hired her about a month ago."

"An' you?" Heiji asked, glancing over towards the middle aged man that Hitoshi had identified as the owner of the place.

Grumbling a little, obviously still annoyed at being interrogated by some young brat, the middle aged man seemed to nevertheless relent. "Takeda Nobuhiko. I own this place, been running it for the past ten years. And I don't think I'm fool enough to hire anyone who would poison a man in my own shop, so you really should be turning your attention towards those guests over there."

"They're not responsible, though." Heiji simply shrugged his shoulders. The resolution in his voice was more than enough to catch Conan's attention- it definitely seemed like he hadn't just thrown out the idea of the staff being involved in the murder. Rather, it almost seemed like he was certain of it. But why?

Putting a hand to his chin, Conan's brows knitted together in thought. He found his gaze drifting back over towards where they had been sitting, eventually falling on Heiji's own abandoned bowl of ramen, chopsticks still placed off to the side of it. Now that he thought about it, Heiji's behavior back then had been somewhat strange- it was unusual for someone to completely freeze up like he did earlier.

He had claimed that his ramen tasted strange, and that was the reason he stopped eating, but what if it was something different? Considering the way he'd been so quick to stop him from taking a bite out of it... could it have been possible that Heiji's own ramen had been poisoned as well?

It wasn't necessarily impossible. If he'd survived being poisoned with Apotoxin with no ill effect, other poisons were probably a walk in the park for him. Maybe he had a general immunity to poison? Kazuha had mentioned that he wasn't a Powered, but if his ability was something like that, that wouldn't have been something that would have normally been picked up on during the course of his life.

It would explain why he was so dead set on one of the shop's employees being behind the murder. The people sharing the table with the deceased Takeru might have had a chance to poison his ramen, but they would have no opportunity, or motive, to poison Heiji's. But why would someone on the staff poison the ramen in the first place? They might have had the chance, but there would have been no motive. If they'd just wanted to poison Takeru, then poisoning someone else on top of it wouldn't make much sense, as that would in turn cast the suspicion back on the kitchen staff.

Unless...

"So, did any of ya know the victim?" Heiji asked, apparently unaware of the thoughts churning around in the pint sized detective's head. Oh, sure enough he noticed that he seemed to be thinking about something, a distinctly unchildlike expression on his face. "A regular around here maybe?"

"That's right." Hitoshi nodded his head. "Moriyama-san comes by here a lot, and often brings his writer friends with him."

"You're calling him Moriyama-san all of a sudden?" Rin spoke up, glancing suspiciously over his way. "Aren't the two of you old childhood friends? I'm pretty sure the only reason he came to this restaurant in the first place was because you work here. At least, that's what I heard from the owner."

"Is that true?" Heiji blinked, glancing between the two men, noticing that Hitoshi seemed to flinch a little.

"Y-yeah, that's right." Hitoshi slowly nodded. "We were childhood friends, but we lost contact during college. We got into a big fight, and stopped talking to each other for a long time. Honestly, I was pretty surprised when I saw him here again in the first place. I thought maybe he wanted to apologize after all these long years, but he's never so much as stopped to say hello to me."

"I can vouch for that much, at least." Nobuhiko said. "This guy here was asking my advice about how to breach the topic with him in the first place."

"What was the fight about?" Heiji asked. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed Rin's eyes narrowing, and filed that away for later. It seemed a little odd.

"Actually..." Hitoshi glanced away, before heaving a long sigh. "In college the two of us were involved in a car accident. The three of us came away from it with minor scrapes and busies, but one of the woman in the car we struck apparently was gravely injured. Takeru kept arguing that it was the woman driver's fault, and eventually his version of the story won in court, but..."

"Ya think it wasn't?" Heiji asked, to which Hitoshi nodded. He couldn't help but find his gaze briefly drift over towards Rin, silently gauging her reaction. Taking note of the way she briefly paled before covering it back up again, a theory began to slowly emerge in Heiji's mind. Sparing a brief glance down towards Conan, he noticed that he seemed to be thinking about something as well.

"The accident was Takeru's fault, of that I've got very little doubt. But he's always been a smooth talker, and was able to convince the court that he was innocent, and that the accident had been caused by negligence on the part of the driver in the other car." Hitoshi told him. "I wanted to tell the truth, but he found that my father was involved in some underhanded dealings in his business, and held that against me. In the end I wasn't able to say anything."

"Sounds like a convenient excuse to me." Rin said shortly, looking somewhat cross. "Maybe you're the one who caused the accident, and you murdered him because you thought he'd say something about it soon? Maybe you thought he was showing up here all of a sudden because he was trying to taunt you?"

"I would never do something like that!" Hitoshi's eyes narrowed. "Besides, what do you have against me in the first place, Hamaguchi-san? You've disliked me from the time you started working here- don't think I haven't noticed that."

Narrowing her eyes, Rin turned away from the young man. "You just remind me of an ex-boyfriend of mine, that's all. Besides, out of the three of us, you're the only one who knew the guy."

"That doesn't make him the culprit, Hamaguchi-san." Nobuhiko spoke up finally, before glancing over towards Heiji. "That looks like it's what the young man wants to say, at least."

"Ya seem pretty eager to lead us to that conclusion, at least, lady." Heiji said easily, shrugging his shoulders. "Is there some reason fer that?"

"Reason?" Rin frowned, before making a dismissive click of her tongue. "Nothing of the sort! I'm just trying to help with the investigation- is that really so wrong? Besides, what's with you anyways?" She asked, turning to glare towards Heiji. "Honestly, why do I have to talk to some weird kid who isn't even polite enough to lower his hood while eating?"

"I don't really see how that's an issue here." Heiji quirked a brow. "Unless," he began, leveling his gaze with the woman's, "there's some kind of reason ya don't like me. Seein' how this is the first time we've met, I'd be surprised to hear that."

"No." Rin narrowed her eyes, breaking eye contact with him. "Nobody likes being accused of nonsense in the first place. That's all."

"I see, I see." Nodding his head, Heiji flashed her a wide grin, before pulling out his cellphone. "Well then, I'm goin' to make a quick call. Why don't you keep askin' em some questions, Conan-kun?" He asked, kneeling down next to him, ruffling his hair again to Conan's annoyance. "I'll be right back, so don't like that uncle over there let any of these three wander away."

"What are you making a phone call for, He-" Conan began, before reeling himself back in, quickly recalling the fake name that he'd given Megure. "Akira-niisan?"

"Well, wait an' see." Heiji's grin only grew, before he wandered away from the group, dialing a number on his cellphone. As much as Conan wanted to follow after him and listen in to who he was taking to, he didn't think he could do it without arousing suspicion. Grumbling a little, the pint sized sleuth instead turned to the three suspects at hand.

He almost certain that the culprit was Hamaguchi Rin, but of course, he didn't have any evidence- no motive either. The way she had reacted when Hitoshi had brought up the car accident had certainly been suspicious, so he suspected that her motive might have something to do with that- but a feeling wasn't enough to go on. She'd probably already made a move to dispose of whatever it was that she had brought the poison in with.

From the sounds of it, it seemed as if she had wanted to frame Hitoshi. That was probably why she had been so insistent from the very start to tie him to the victim. Most likely that had been her plan from the very start. If that was the case, it wouldn't be that strange for her to take actions that would make it obvious that it had to be a member of the staff that poisoned Takeru. If Heiji's own bowl of ramen had really been poisoned like he suspected it was, then it would explain her behavior towards him as well.

Anyone would be flustered when they were being interrogated by someone they thought should be dead, after all. She had probably wanted to create the illusion that it was a random act of murder, and then suddenly speak up about the connection between Takeru and Hitoshi, casting the latter in doubt.

This would be a place where something like Ai's power would have come in handy, but he'd still need evidence to back up his words. Glancing over towards his fellow shrunken teenager, he wondered if she'd be inclined to use said power for him in this case- but he quickly dismissed it. He'd seen Ai after getting strong negative feedback from a killer before, and he never wanted to put her through that again. As convenient as her power was, it wasn't worth the price. He'd vowed never to make her use it on a murder suspect again.

"Hey, do ya know the names of the woman who were in the car accident with ya?" Heiji asked, tucking away his cellphone as he returned to them. The glint in his eyes was enough to tell Conan that he'd gotten the pieces to put this puzzle together, and just needed to give it another push.

"The names?" Hitoshi blinked, frowning. "If I recall, the driver's name was Hishikawa Yuuri. As for her passenger..." Trailing off, his eyebrows knitted together. "Honestly, I don't remember. She was still in a coma while the trial was going on, so I never even got to see her in the first place. I'd heard she'd woken up some time afterwards, though."

Hamaguchi Rin's fatal flaw, Conan thought, was that she wasn't half as good at concealing her expressions as she thought she was.

"An did ya ever hear what happened to the driver after that?" Heiji asked.

"No. After the trial I decided to move away, and transferred to a different college." Hitoshi said frankly. "I didn't want to stay in that city anymore. If I recall though, she had to pay a huge fine, but she didn't get any jail time."

"How could you not care enough to pay attention to something like that?" Rin spat out, her eyes narrowing sharply. This outburst drew the attention of those lingering in the restaurant- including the police officers, who turned their attention towards the group. "You should at least have a responsibility to know what happened!"

"Why are you so angry?" Hitoshi flinched a little, taking a step back. "I just wanted to put it out of my mind, after everything that happened. I wasn't doing it out of ill will."

"Well, of course she's angry." Heiji shrugged his shoulders. "After all, Hishikawa-han committed suicide. Apparently the guilt of bein' behind the wheel at the time of the accident, an' being blamed fer it were too much fer her. She probably thought her friend was goin' to die because of her. But," Heiji began, glancing over towards Rin. "Her friend didn't die, did she, Hamaguchi-han?"

"W-Why would I know something like that?" Rin asked, taking a step backwards.

"From the start, I thought it was kind of strange how invested ya seemed to be in this car accident of Kagawa-han's. But that's only natural. After all, it was that same accident that made ya lose yer best friend, an forced ya to spend three years in rehabilitation." As Heiji spoke, Rin blanched, her eyes going wide. "Imagine how that friend felt after she woke up from her coma. Knowin' that the accident was pinned on her friend even though it wasn't her fault, and learnin' that she had even committed suicide. That's one hell of a thing to wake up to, ain't it, Hamaguchi-han?"

"I don't know what you mean!" Rin clenched her fists, growing more defensive. "I've never been in any kind of accident in my life."

"Oh?" Heiji arched an eyebrow. "Then, I guess if the officers over there go to check yer medical history, they won't find anythin' like that there, will they? Since ya just said it yerself, after all." Rin blanched a little at this, realizing that she had essentially just put her foot in her mouth. "After all, there's only one reason ya would work so hard to hide yer connection to the accident, isn't there? The name of the friend that was critically injured in the accident had the same name as you- that's because she was you, Hamaguchi Rin."

"I see!" Conan chimed in, not entirely seeming satisfied with just listening to Heiji's own deduction show. "You wanted to try and frame Kagawa-san for the murder from the start, didn't you? Since he did nothing to help your friend. After all, if he testified against Moriyama-san, your friend might still be here."

Casting a slight glower down towards Conan for essentially stealing his thunder, Heiji grumbled as the boy shot him something of a smug look. This kid so wasn't cute, he thought to himself. But as child-like as his tone of voice was, he was right on the mark- and that sharp gaze of his from earlier- there was no doubt that this kid had pieced together very much the same thing that Heiji had.

Jodie viewed the 'cool kid' as just an exceptionally clever child, but as he had suspected, it seemed that the truth was most likely something different entirely. Well, one way or another, he was going to find out, since it seemed like this 'cool kid' was just as curious about him in turn.

With that information out in the open, the case wrapped up pretty smoothly. He didn't think it would become an issue, but just in case, Heiji carefully wiped away his fingerprints from his ramen bowl and the counter when nobody was looking. He doubted that they'd check any more bowls for poison- he didn't think Rin would freely volunteer the fact that she'd attempted to poison more bowls of ramen to draw attention to the kitchen staff in the first place.

"Who's Takahara Akira anyways?" Conan found himself asking the dark skinned boy when they had a moment of privacy. Ai was handling the rest of the Detective Boys, it seemed. She was good at that. "Do you really think you look old enough to pass for a university student?"

"It's easier to pose as a university student than a high school student, all things considered." Heiji shrugged his shoulders, leaning against the counter. "It's just an alias. It would be a pain if the police recognized my name." Glancing down at the boy standing next to him, he arched an eyebrow. "I suppose I should be askin' ya the same question though. Who's Edogawa Conan?"

There was a pause then, as Conan held his gaze, before finally heaving a sigh, turning away from him. "An alias."

"Ya should've picked a cooler name." Heiji muttered, half to himself, which earned him a dirty look from Conan. "Sorry, sorry. Did ya actually think it was cool?"

"Cut me some slack, I made it up on the spot." Conan grumbled. He didn't want to admit that he actually did, in fact, think it was a _little_ cool. After all, his alias shared the same name as none other than Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of his favorite Sherlock Holmes. That wasn't anything to sneeze at!

"Oh, so ya _did_ think it was cool." Heiji couldn't help but flash him a wide grin, which only grew as Conan's glower seemed to deepen. He got the feeling that this kid was a bit fun to mess with. "So? I hear ya've been lookin' fer me. An' not just cause of Miss Headband over there."

"We shouldn't discuss it here." Conan observed. "I know a certain Professor that I can trust. We can talk more at his place."

"Oh, the house where that slanty eyed girl lives?" Heiji asked, looking over towards Ai. "Can ya really trust this Professor of yers, though?"

"I've known him since I was in diapers." Conan replied shortly, almost looking outright offended that anyone would ever suspect Professor Agasa of anything. "Yes, I can trust him. And how do you know about him in the first place?"

"...No reason." Heiji said, gaze trailing away from Conan's. He definitely wasn't going to tell him it was because he had been investigating him since yesterday, or that it was because he had been spying on him yesterday either. "Don't worry 'bout it. How about we meet up at that Professor's place this evenin', then? Maybe around eight?"

"Eight's fine." Conan said after a moment. He could tell Ran that he was staying over at the Professor's place that evening to help him with a new game he was developing. "Are you sure your keeper is going to let you come though?"

"She's not my _keeper_." Heiji arched an eyebrow. "An' no, she's probably goin' to try an' kill me as it is already." He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. If this kid had already figured this much out, there was no point in denying it- especially not if he wanted him as an ally. That was something that was going to require a certain level of mutual trust. There was no mistake, this kid definitely had to be the missing Kudo Shinichi somehow, though he didn't fully understand how. He imagined, though, he'd be enlightened on that this evening.

"But well, s'not like I ever let that sort of thing stop me before." Heiji told him, his grin quickly returning.  
____________________________________________________________

"You realize that if it turns out he's actually associated with _them_ , that this is going to turn out to be one of your most foolish moves ever?" Ai asked dryly, casting her gaze over towards Conan upon hearing the doorbell ring.

"You said it yourself that you didn't sense anything from him." Conan shrugged, getting to his feet. Given that Heiji had already rung the doorbell a second time, he gathered he wasn't the most patient of people. "You're the one so resolute that you can identify a member of that Organization just by the aura they give off."

"Just because he's not with them, doesn't mean that he'll turn out to be an ally of ours, though." Ai noted. "But very well, Kudo-kun. So far your instincts haven't been off, so I'll trust you in this matter."

"That's the spirit." Giving her a small smile, Conan headed towards the door, standing on his toes to open it up. "You didn't need to ring the bell more than once, you know, we heard you the first time!"

"You were takin' so long though!" Heiji huffed, his lips twisting into a frown. "So? Where's this Professor of yers? Oh, an' that slanty eyed girl is here too." He noted, all but inviting himself in. Conan closed the door behind him, following him into the living room. Judging from the fact that Heiji didn't seem to question Ai's presence in the living room, it appeared that he had some idea that she was somehow involved in all of this, at least. What information he'd gathered on his own, and what information he'd gotten from Jodie wasn't clear though.

"The Professor is getting some drinks." Ai said dryly, apparently not taking to the nickname. "And my name is Haibara Ai, not slanty eyed girl. I'd appreciate it if you used it."

"Oh sorry, sorry!" Grinning widely, Heiji seemed to glance around the room, as if checking to see if there was anything suspect inside of it. Eventually he seemed satisfied, and he took a seat on the couch, finally pulling the hood of his jacket down for the first time since they'd met him.

He really did look exactly like the picture that Kazuha had given Ran, Conan noted with a slight hint of annoyance. The only difference between his appearance six months ago and now was the fact that it didn't appear as if he'd cut his hair once in the past six months, resulting in something of a shaggy mess. But, this might also be a good thing. It was possible that through Heiji, they might be able to find some kind of cure to Apotoxin's shrinking effects.

"Oh, our guest is here already?" Agasa observed, setting down the drinks on the counter. "How do you like your coffee... it was Hattori Heiji-kun, wasn't it?"

"That's right." Heiji freely admitted, reaching over and plucking a sugar cube out of the container, dropping it in one of the saucers himself. "I'm Hattori Heiji, known as the High School Detective of the West. An' of course, the High School Detective of the East is sittin' right across from me, 'cept he ain't so much of a high school detective anymore as he is a Kindergarten detective."

Frankly, Conan wasn't surprised that he'd managed to put that much together- but he _did_ take offense to that last part. "I'm currently enrolled in first grade, not _kindergarten._ "

"Oh sorry, sorry! Ya look so small, it's easy to get confused!" Heiji said, flashing a wide grin. "So ya really are Kudo Shinichi, huh? Never thought I'd be meetin' my rival in situation like this."

Choosing not to mention the fact that he hadn't even been _aware_ of the fact that he had a rival up until recently, Conan merely sent him a small glower. "Well, the fact remains that this is how we're meeting, Hattori. One missing high school detective to another."

Heiji's gaze briefly flitted towards Ai before it returned to Conan. Picking up his coffee cup, he used the same hand to motion in her general direction. "An' her?" He asked, before taking a sip of his coffee.

"She's the developer of the poison that you and I both were forced to take." Conan noted, watching in amusement as Heiji quickly spat out his coffee. "What? You'd already gathered so much about me, I thought you'd know something about Haibara already. Well, don't worry about it. She betrayed those guys in the first place, that's why she's here, looking like this."

"So she's Sherry?" Heiji asked, before quickly realizing what he'd just let slip, his eyes going wide.

"I admit, I'm a bit surprised you seem to know that name, Hattori-kun." Ai said, calmly drinking her coffee. "Did you hear it from Absinthe, perhaps? We've already been able to establish that she was the one who poisoned you with Apotoxin in the first place." Setting her coffee cup down in it's saucer, she locked eyes with him. "She confirmed your death too, according to the list."

"I'm curious about that too." Conan admitted, picking up his own coffee cup. He noted that the Professor had taken a seat slightly away from them, letting the three of them be involved in their own discussion for now. "There's no reason you should have survived, at least not in that body."

"I don't get what ya mean by that." Heiji blinked, tilting his head a little. "Well, it's true that I did survive that weird poison she gave me, though it hurt like hell at the time. An' she did mention something offhand about it being developed by a Sherry or somethin' at that time, though I didn't get what that meant back then. Didn't realize they used that sort of thing fer the code names at that point."

"We shrunk." Ai said, her tone rather matter of fact. "It was an unexpected side effect of Apotoxin. It caused Kudo-kun and I here to both shrink after taking it, instead of killing us outright. He's been living in the Mouri Detective Agency using the alias of Edogawa Conan ever since. And I, Haibara Ai, living here with the professor."

"Shrunk?" Heiji blinked rapidly, tilting his head to the other side now. For a brief moment, Conan was vaguely reminded of a dog that was trying and failing to grasp something. "Well, I guess in a world where people can teleport no problem, it's not that weird, but well..."

"Well, I can understand your confusion." Ai said simply. "Considering it didn't happen to you. I've been trying to develop an antidote ever since, but my success has been rather limited."

"Ah, I see." Heiji said, leaning back on the couch, closing his eyes. "An' that's when I cropped up into the picture, huh? Must've got ya real excited that I could help ya out with that or somethin'."

"Well, you're still you." Conan observed, arching an eyebrow. "Frankly, you should be grateful. Nobody takes you seriously when you look like a seven year old."

" _Grateful_?" Heiji cracked an eye open, before leaning forward, setting his coffee cup back on the table. "Well, it's true that I'm grateful not to be dead or _seven_ , but those are some pretty big words from someone who doesn't understand anythin'." Reeling back his temper a little, quickly realizing that he hadn't said that to rile him up, Heiji rubbed the back of his neck, glancing away from them. "Anyways, I can't help ya with yer antidote."

"Why not?" Conan asked, setting aside his coffee now. "Do you even understand how much trouble we've been through?"

"Do ya understand how much trouble _I've_ been through?" Heiji asked in turn, arching a brow. That at least, caused Conan to settle back a little. "Look, I mean what I mean here, Kudo. I'm not sayin' it to make yer life more difficult. I can't give ya some kind of miracle cure to yer shrinkin' problem, if that's what you want. Ya might just end up with _my_ problem instead, an' trust me, you don't want my problem."

"And?" Ai asked, finishing off her coffee and setting the cup aside. "What exactly is your problem, Hattori-kun?"

Silence, so thick that one could cut a knife through it. Heiji seemed to consider the girl's question for a moment, opening his mouth to answer before shutting it again. Finally he broke eye contact with her, turning away from the both of them entirely. "I'd rather not talk 'bout if I don't have to."

"That's fine." Ai said.

" _Haibara-!_ " Conan opened up his mouth to protest, only to be cut short by Ai.

"I imagine you'll tell us in good time- isn't that right, Hattori-kun?" Ai asked. "We won't force you to talk about it until you're sure you can trust us with that information. Considering that I used to be one of their numbers, there's no doubt you're still apprehensive in regards to that."

"Ya talk like you've already got it figured out, little Neechan." Heiji observed, scratching the back of his head. "Kind of makes not talkin' bout it somewhat pointless, then."

"Well, I am a psychic." Ai said simply. "But I will tell you that you can trust us, Hattori-kun. In spite of his looks, Kudo-kun here is rather reliable."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Conan asked, glowering towards the shrunken scientist. "But Haibara's right. If I said something to offend you earlier, Hattori, then I am sorry. But I think that if the three of us worked together, we'd be able to beat those guys that much sooner. You probably want to return home too, right? After all, you can't just so easily hide yourself as I can, that must be a huge problem for you."

"Tell me about it." Heiji's laugh was a slightly bitter one. "Goin' home at some point would be really nice, even if my old man is probably goin' to tear me a new one when I finally go home." Frowning a little, he folded his arms in his chest, considering all of his options here. He didn't see any reason why he couldn't trust these two as it were- even if that brunette was a former member of that Organization, he didn't think Kudo would have been working with her if her talk of betrayal wasn't completely true.

"Alright." Heiji said after a moment, getting to his feet. "I guess I can trust the two of ya bout as far as I can throw ya." He said, a wide grin flashing on his face- one that seemed to be tempered by something, the two shrunken teenagers couldn't help but note, even as they jointly rolled their eyes at his awful joke. There was no doubt that he could probably throw the two of them very far indeed, considering that they virtually weighed next to nothing.

"So you'll work with us then?" Conan asked, taking notice of the fact that Heiji seemed to be looking around for something. "Are you looking for something?"

"Yeah, I thought it would be a bit easier to just show ya what I meant earlier." Heiji said, frowning a little, before turning towards Agasa. "Oi, uncle, where do ya keep yer knives round here?"

"In the kitchen over there, in the second drawer to the left." Agasa answered, exchanging a look with Conan. "But what do you need them for?"

"Like I said, it's easier to really understand when ya see it fer yerself." Heiji told him, heading over towards the location that Agasa had indicated, pulling out one of the knives from the drawer, before he returned to the living room with it in hand. "I really would like to help ya with yer predicament if I could, Kudo, really I do, but the last thing ya probably want is to end up as a seven year old with my problem."

"And? That problem is?" Conan asked, arching a skeptical eyebrow. He had a bad feeling that he knew where Heiji was going with this, but he wasn't possibly about to- Conan's eyes widened as he realized that his thoughts were straight on, as with one swift motion, Heiji cut a long line down his right arm with the knife. "Oi, what are you doing, Hattori?!"

"Well, just give a second." Heiji grimaced, setting the knife aside for the moment. Blood began to flow quickly from the rather deep wound, and out of the corner of his eye, he took notice of the Professor scrambling in the background to go get his first aid kit.

And just as soon as blood began to flow from the cut, it stopped. Bit by bit, the wound closed itself up, and within no time at all, it was as if it had never even happened, not even a trace or a scar left behind in it's place.

Needless to say, it left Conan speechless, at least for a moment. He admitted he'd been expecting something like this, but actually seeing it in practice was something else entirely.

"...Accelerated healing?" He finally managed to say. "But I thought Toyama-san said that you didn't have any abilities?"

"That's what I thought too, right up till six months ago." Heiji said simply. "An' it's not _just_ accelerated healin', it's a lot more complicated than that."

"Then, what is it?" Conan asked.

"Immortality." It was Ai who supplied the answer, an unreadable expression on her face. "Hattori-kun's ability is, simply put, the inability to die."


	5. Immortality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While speaking with Heiji provides Conan some answers to the questions he seeks, the encounter also leaves him with entirely new questions.

"Well, it's not that I _can't_ die, exactly," Heiji began, leaning back against the couch. "It's stayin' dead that's the issue."

"Well, given the report I read, I suspected that much." Ai noted. "But if that's the case, it's no wonder why the Organization would be interested in you. Or rather than the Organization, it's only Absinthe, isn't it?"

"Yeah. I figure she hasn't told any of the other members just yet." Heiji shrugged his shoulders. "At least, that was the impression I got the last time I saw her, it could have changed since then. That old lady isn't the type ta come forward with somethin' big like this until she's already done with her research."

"From what little I know of her, I have to agree. Besides, if the other members of the Organization knew about you, it's likely that you wouldn't be able to hide as easily as you already are. They'd do anything to track you down, including targeting your loved ones." Ai said simply, before turning her gaze towards Conan. "So? You've gotten the answer that you wanted, Kudo-kun, you should probably say something already."

"Ah, sorry." Conan blinked, recovering his senses. He'd definitely been thrown for a slight loop there- he hadn't been expecting an answer like that. But it certainly would explain things, now that he thought about it. "But you're saying the Organization is interested in immorality? Why didn't you say anything about that before, Haibara?"

"It's only a hunch of mine." Ai told him, spreading her hands out before her. "As I said before, there were plenty of things that they didn't tell me during my time in the Organization. They took great care to protect themselves from my power as well, so what information I managed to gather probably wouldn't have helped you as much as you thought. Frankly, it was only a suspicion of mine that they were interested such things until Hattori-kun here proved it for me."

"Glad ta be of service." Heiji noted, quirking a brow. "But listen, I don't want a word of what I just said ta slip out anywhere outta this place. I don't care how much ya trust the other person, don't say anythin' about it to them."

"I wouldn't do something like that." Conan said shortly, his lips twisting into a frown. "So this Absinthe woman- what is she like, Hattori? Haibara's never met her, so I haven't been able to get much information about her. I could use any information on the Organization you've got."

"It's possible that she might also have some of the research data on Apotoxin as well." Ai noted, glancing over towards Conan. "It's not unlikely that they might have given over my role to her after I left the Organization."

"Well, I don't know about yer Ahoutoxin," Heiji began.

" _Apo_ toxin." Conan corrected him.

"Isn't that what I just said?" Heiji frowned, before continuing on. "Anyways. The last thing I knew about that old lady was that she had a lab in the Gunma Prefecture. Emphasis on _had_ , mind ya. It blew up, about a month ago now. Probably both Absinthe an' her right hand escaped with their research data though."

"Right hand?" Conan blinked, glancing over towards Ai, who simply shrugged her shoulders.

"A woman with the codename of Ginger." Heiji told them. "Tall an' imposin', that type of person. She works directly under Absinthe's command, an' is basically her muscle."

"Do you still know where this lab was?" Conan asked. If they investigated the ruins, they still might be able to find something out. It wasn't impossible.

"Of course I do, I was there when it exploded." Heiji noted grimly. "But at this point, ya probably won't find anythin'. The FBI has already gone over that place with a fine tooth comb, after all."

"The FBI?" Conan blinked, sitting straight up. "They're investigating the Black Organization as well?"

"Of course they are. What did ya think Jodie-han was anyways? She's FBI, FBI." Heiji told him, holding his arms in front of his chest. "She's also the one tasked with lookin' after me by her boss. Aside from her an' one of her other coworkers, some Akai Shuichi guy, the rest of the members don't know anythin' about me though. It's better that way."

"So she _is_ your keeper after all." Conan couldn't help but note, which earned him a dirty look from the dark skinned teenager. "But are you sure it's okay to tell me that much?"

"Ya'd just keep wastin' yer time investigatin' her unless I did, right? That's why ya turned up at her apartment the other day, ain't it?" Heiji asked. "But if she asks, ya didn't hear it from me, alright? She's probably gonna be mad enough at me as it is fer talkin' ta ya period. Ah, an' don't worry. I won't mention a thing to her about ya bein' Kudo Shinichi, or this little Neechan here bein' a former member of their Organization."

"I'd appreciate that." Conan said, nodding his head. "Ah, but that's right, Hattori. Before I forget to ask, do you know a girl named Toyama Kazuha? I mentioned her earlier, but she came to the detective agency I'm staying at with a request for the uncle there to search for you."

"Of course I know her!" Heiji said, a slight grin gracing his features. "We're childhood friends after all. Known each other since we were basically in diapers. As fer her request, I already heard about it from Jodie-han."

 _She must have passed the information on to him after Ran showed her his photo_ Conan thought to himself. "Aren't you worried about her? If she's trying to find you, it's not impossible that she might run into those guys after all."

"Mm, It'll probably be fine." Heiji said. "If there's any danger, Kazuha can just _poof_ right out of there. Besides, Kazuha's not really the type ta charge into danger like that in the first place."

"She didn't seem to know about your ability, from the sound of it." Conan noted. "And from the sound of it, you didn't know about it either. I can understand not realizing the extent of it, but wouldn't you normally notice something like accelerated healing?"

"No." Heiji shook his head. "Like I said, up 'til that point six months ago, I thought I was completely normal. I even healed normally too, like everyone else did. There wasn't anythin' really ta notice in the first place."

"It's possible that his ability could have simply been dormant." The two high school detectives found themselves slightly startled when Agasa finally spoke up- they'd almost forgotten that he was here, despite this being his house. "I'm sure you already know this, Shinichi, but there's still a number of Powered Children who don't awaken to their abilities later in life. It's thought about three percent of the children born after the Night of the Falling Stars have latent abilities that just haven't had a trigger to awaken them yet."

"Ah, that's right." Conan recalled. "In that case, I guess dying probably would have been the trigger here? If that's the case, you should at least be listed on the register of potential Powered Children, Hattori."

"I can check." Ai noted. "It sounds reasonable enough, after all. You did take the test, didn't you?"

"Of course I did." Heiji said. "There's no child that was born around that time that didn't take the test, especially not in Japan. They did ours in our elementary school. Osaka's a hotbed fer Powered in the first place, so they did 'em school by school there."

"It was the same over here. Well, I already knew about my ability back then, so I didn't have to take the test with everyone else." Conan recalled. It had been in the second grade when the Japanese government revealed that they had a test to determine if an individual was carrying a latent or otherwise unknown ability inside of them- although he didn't know exactly what it consisted of other than taking a blood sample, it was said it was supposed to be one hundred percent effective in determining latent abilities.

"By the way, what is yer ability anyways, Kudo?" Heiji blinked, peering over at the pint sized detective. "I figured that it had ta do somethin' with yer tiny body, but obviously I was wrong."

"Voice mimicry." Conan said after a moment. "I can imitate other voices perfectly."

"Voice mimicry, huh? As far as special abilities, it's sort of boring." Heiji said with a slight grin- one that only grew wider as he leaned across the table. "Hey, do me then. I want to hear it, come on!"

"First you insult my ability and then you ask me to show it off to you?" Conan arched a brow, folding his arms in front of his chest. "No way. Forget about it."

"C'mon, don't be such a baby." Heiji said. "I even showed ya mine! C'mon, c'mon, I want to see it!"

"Which one of us is acting like the baby here?" Conan couldn't help but note, before heaving an aggravated sigh. "Alright, alright, I'll do it if it'll make you shut up about it."

Clearing his throat, his cheeks tinted an ever so slight shade of pink as he spoke up, he altered his voice to imitate that of his fellow high school detective's. "I-is this good enough for you then?"

"Oh!" Heiji's eyes lit up at his words, his grin somehow actually managing to become wider. "Amazin'! It sounds just like me, almost!"

Was this really someone who had spent six months in hiding from that Organization? He sure didn't act like it. He paused then, shooting him a look, returning to his normal voice. "What do you mean _almost_? I'll have you know my imitation is perfect."

"It's yer accent, idiot." Heiji said. "I don't speak with such a strange accent as that!"

"Hah? You're the one with a strange accent around here!" Conan shot back. "I've never heard anyone speak with such a heavy Osaka accent before!"

"There's nothin' wrong with the way I speak!" Heiji huffed, folding his arms in front of his chest, returning Conan's glare- before he blinked, tilting his head slightly, placing his hand on his chin in thought. "But wait... if ya can imitate voices..."

"I get it! The person behind the Sleepin' Kogoro is you, right?" Heiji asked with a grin, pointing towards Conan. "Ya probably put him ta sleep somehow, then give yer deductions usin' his voice! That's pretty clever, Kudo!"

Slightly thrown off by the sudden change of topic- this Hattori Heiji was sure a my pace kind of guy, wasn't he?- Conan slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, I am. That uncle has me to thank for solving most of his cases."

"I'm surprised ya can give him that kind of credit, though." Heiji frowned. "Whenever ya showed up on TV or in the newspaper, I always thought ya were some kind of egotistical guy."

"Well, you're not wrong." Ai said, shrugging her shoulders. Amusement danced on her face as Conan turned to shoot her a dirty look. "Oh? But it was that kind of ego that got you into this mess in the first place, wasn't it?"

"Well, I can't deny that." Conan grumbled, before pausing, glancing over towards Heiji. "But now that she brings it up, Hattori- exactly how did you cross paths with those guys in black in the first place? Obviously Absinthe was involved if she gave you the poison, but..."

"Ah, that." Heiji leaned back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "I was wrappin' up an investigation of my own when I noticed a suspicious lookin' guy wandering around the warehouse district that I was in. He was a _really_ huge guy!" Lifting up a hand in a vain attempt to indicate his height, which was next to impossible to do while sitting down, Heiji shifted his position again, looking back towards Conan. "I thought it was kinda of fishy so I followed him."

"After that I watched him make some kind of shady transaction with Absinthe in one of the warehouses, an' before I knew it, I found myself knocked out and poisoned. It seems like that old lady had Ginger lurkin' 'round, lookin' out fer anyone suspicious." Heiji told them, before tucking his hands into his jacket's pockets, giving them a small shrug. "An' then later, I woke up after bein' supposedly poisoned, without any trace of even a little head wound. Well, it took me a little while later ta figure out I was immortal, but that's how I got here today, basically."

"Why did you decide to hide though?" Conan asked. "Your father the highest ranking police officer in all of Osaka, and you didn't know what kind of group you were up against then, right?"

Judging from Heiji's reaction, he hadn't quite been expecting that question, and quickly looked away from Conan. Rubbing the back of his neck, he seemed to rack through his brain to come up with a suitable answer. "Ah, well that's..." He trailed off. "Just a gut feelin', I guess? At first I thought I would just lay low fer awhile an' see what happened, but when I looked into things more, I realized exactly what kind of group I was up against, so..."

"So you decide to properly go into hiding, while continuing to investigate them." Ai noted, silently shooting a look towards Conan, advising him not to press Heiji about his obvious lie. He'd already trusted them this far, if they just gave him more time, there was no doubt he'd come clean about what he wasn't telling them.

"Yeah, yeah, that's it." Heiji said, nodding his head. "Ya could be a pretty good detective yerself, little Neechan!"

"I'm not interested in such things." Ai said simply, before yawning loudly. "Well, I do believe it's getting a bit late, Hattori-kun. Kudo-kun and I do have the bodies of children, after all."

"An' the bedtimes of em, too, huh?" Heiji flashed a grin, rising to his feet. "That must be a real pain!"

"Shut up." Conan grumbled, shooting Ai a look of his own, trying to figure out what she was thinking. There were still plenty more things he wanted to ask Heiji, so why did she seem to intent on cutting the conversation short? "And what about you? Regenerating yourself sounds like something that requires a fair bit of energy."

"Ah, it always leaves me a little lethargic afterwards." Heiji noted. "Unless I'm revivin' straight from the dead, that is. No better rest than that."

Conan's eyes narrowed a little- honestly, he was still having a hard time wrapping his head around the idea of anyone actually being immortal. It was true that he lived in a time where people with unusual abilities wasn't that unusual, and that he in fact had one himself- but immortality was a little hard to wrap his head around. Normally there should be no way for someone to return from the dead.

Part of him was curious as to exactly how it worked. Wisely, perhaps, he decided not to ask. If Heiji had been pursued all this time by someone who was curious about very much the same, he had the feeling that he wouldn't appreciate being made to feel like a test subject. If word of his ability got out, it wouldn't just be the Organization who would be interested in him- but rather people all over the world, from all walks of life. It would become impossible to live a normal life ever again, most likely.

 _I see._ Conan thought to himself, his eyes narrowing as the implications of that sunk in. _If Haibara had some suspicion back then, no wonder she had been quick to refute my claim that Hattori had been lucky to survive Apotoxin without shrinking._

"Ah, that's right." Heiji blinked, as if remembering something. "I'll give ya my cellphone number. That should probably gettin' in touch with me a bit easier. Yer gonna have to remember it yerself though, don't go puttin' it in yer cellphone contacts."

"Ah, that's fine. I'll remember." Conan nodded his head, listening carefully as Heiji gave him his cellphone number. Where he had gotten his cellphone in the first place was among the things that he wanted to ask- he hadn't taken his own with him, after all. It was possible that it was Jodie who had given it to him, but somehow he didn't think that was right.

And who did he call during the case? It was obviously someone with access to information about either traffic accidents, or hospitalization records. Did he possibly know someone in Tokyo's Metropolitan police force?

"Well, I'd probably better head back an' face up to Jodie-han's wrath." Heiji told him, a slight look of apprehension in his expression. "Wish me luck, Kudo?"

"It's Conan." Conan corrected him. "Outside of here, with other people, I'm Edogawa Conan. Isn't that right, _Akira_ -niisan?"

"Ah, that's right." Heiji blinked, frowning a little. "Well then, let's talk more again in the near future Ku- Conan-kun." He said, briefly slipping up before hastily correcting himself. "Have some sweet dreams!"

Pulling up his hood again before he left Agasa's house, Heiji waved at the trio inside as the door shut behind him. Once he was gone, Conan let out a long breath, slumping back down on the couch.

"Well?" Conan asked, turning his head to look at Ai. "What's Miss Psychic's opinion on this Hattori Heiji?"

"He's a terrible liar if he hasn't had ample practice." Ai noted. "In other words, he's a naturally honest person. I could tell that much without being psychic." Getting to her feet, she went to pick up the knife, taking note of the blood that was still on it. It wasn't enough to test, and it was already starting to dry anyways. "He's not a bad person, at least."

"But he was lying." Conan noted.

"He wasn't so much lying as he was leaving things out." Ai pointed out, setting the knife back down. She was naturally curious about the ins and outs of Heiji's immortality as well, but from what she could sense from him without touching him... it probably wouldn't end well if she did perform any kind of tests on the blood he'd left behind. "Even that might just be force of habit. What other allies he's gained over these six months might know about the same as we do now."

"I'm curious about who these allies are. Obviously, there's Jodie-sensei and at least three members of the FBI, but I don't think it ends there." Conan noted, folding his arms in front of his chest. "And his explanation for going into hiding doesn't make any sense, either. He was definitely lying there. Most likely he overheard something."

"Perhaps there's someone amongst Osaka's police force who can't be trusted?" Ai suggested. "Whatever the case, I do know that if we press Hattori-kun for answers, it will only have the opposite effect. It's possible he might entirely disappear if that's the case. Normally his personality would probably quite trusting, but circumstances have dampened that trust somewhat. It's better to wait for him to come to us."

"You're probably right." Conan admitted after a moment. "It's just frustrating. That guy's probably the closest link we have to _them_ right now, but he won't tell us anything that's really important."

Getting to his feet, Conan paced back and forth, thinking over what he'd managed to learn from Hattori Heiji. The existence of two new Black Organization members- Absinthe and Ginger. A destroyed lab in the Gunma Prefecture. The fact that the FBI had been looking into them, and the fact that Jodie was one of their investigators. His ability, one of the Organization's possible goals. Halting in his pacing, he briefly glanced back towards Ai.

"Oi, Haibara." He began. "You said that if the Organization as a whole learned about Hattori's ability, that he wouldn't be able to hide from them as easily as he was now. Exactly what would happen to him if they managed to catch him?"

"It's hard to say." Ai said simply, shaking her head. "Just," the look in her eyes alone was enough to send a shiver down Conan's spine. "He probably would never be able to escape from them. Most likely any number of horrible experiments would be performed on him, to get to the root of his ability."

"Haibara." Conan spoke again, almost hesitating to ask the question. "If Absinthe wasn't there when he revived the first time, how would she know about his ability?"

"That's probably something you'd have to ask Hattori-kun yourself, Kudo-kun." Ai told him simply, turning away from him. "Provided he's willing to answer it, that is."

"I have just one more question, Haibara." Conan said, realizing on some level that he was holding his breath. "Exactly how far would Absinthe be willing to go in order to get results?"

"From what little I understand of her, Kudo-kun," Ai began, turning ever so slightly to face him. "Anything."  
_____________________________________________________________

"So," Jodie began, a bright smile plastered onto her face as Heiji waltzed into her apartment, acting for all the world as if nothing had happened. "Exactly how did your meeting with the Cool Kid go?"

She was _definitely_ mad. Thankfully, at least, her anger was next to nothing compared to that of his own mother, but still- that gaze was pretty intense. "W-what meetin'? I just said I was goin' ta take a look at him, not that I was gonna meet 'em."

" _Hattori Heiji._ " Jodie stood up, invoking everything she'd learned about being a teacher to ensure that her tone was at it's utmost piercing. "Don't lie to me."

Grimacing, Heiji realized that there was no getting around this, nor any way to pull the wool over her eyes- so he finally let out a sigh. "Alright, Alright, I'll talk. There's no need to interrogate me, Jodie-han. Once was enough."

"I did meet that Cool Kid, like I said, but all I did was treat him an' his friends ta some ramen. That's all." Heiji told her, leaving out the part where he'd solved a murder and had also solved the truth behind the mysterious Cool Kid that had grabbed the faux English teacher's attention. "After that I went around tryin' ta do some investigation into things on my own end. You don't have ta get so mad."

Heaving a sigh, Jodie walked over to him, patting on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, Hattori-kun. But the only reason I'm so strict with you in the first place is because I'm worried. Your ability gives the impression that whatever happens it's fine because you can't die, but you really do have to be more careful. For the moment, the rest of the Organization doesn't know about you, but if they were to find out..."

"I know, _I know_. I'd have ta go into the Witness Protection Program whether I wanted ta or not." Heiji grumbled. "Why are ya so worried anyways? It's not like ya know any of them are hangin' round here in the first place."

Even as the words came out of his mouth, Heiji quickly put the pieces together, brow furrowing in thought. "Unless there are." He said, glancing up to meet eyes with Jodie, who to her credit, didn't even so much as change expressions. "There are, ain't there? That's why yer based outta Beika in the first place."

"Hattori-kun." Jodie began, nearly about to tell him that she couldn't disclose details of their investigation to him. Realizing that this would only make Heiji look into it himself, she decided to relent. "Alright, Hattori-kun." Taking her hand off his shoulder, she nodded her head. "There are."

" _I knew it!_ " Heiji exclaimed, pounding a fist into his open hand. "So? It ain't Absinthe obviously, but obviously someone else. Any chance yer gonna tell me who?"

"I'll only tell you her codename. And you have to agree to a condition if I do." Jodie said, planting her hands on her hip, giving the young boy a rather stern look.

"I ain't tellin' ya whose cellphone numbers I know." Heiji grumbled, not caring for the way Jodie kept trying to pry into who he'd already allied himself with. "But aside from that, alright. What's yer condition?"

"You need to meet with Shu, at least once." Jodie told him. "Otherwise I won't tell you anything, Hattori-kun."

"...Fine." He said after a moment, still looking rather displeased. "I'll meet with this Shu guy of yers. Now spit it out already. What's the codename?"

"Vermouth." Jodie said finally, heaving a sigh. She'd call Shuichi later to set up the meeting. "Her codename is Vermouth."

"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Heiji quickly flashed her again, his mood changing quickly once he'd gotten what he wanted. "By the way, what's fer dinner? I haven't eaten anythin' since lunch, and barely even then, so I'm starvin' here!"

"Oh." Jodie raised a brow, a sly grin on her face. "Didn't you know, Hattori-kun? Boys who don't listen to their caretakers have to put up with convenience store bentos."

"Yer a cruel woman, Jodie-han."  
___________________________________________________

"Oh, Conan-kun, you're back." Ran glanced up at him, setting down her cup of coffee. "Did you enjoy your sleep over at Professor Agasa's place?"

"Yeah, I sure did, Ran-neechan!" Nodding his head, he beamed brightly at her, the perfect imitation of a child. Noticing that she wasn't alone on this Saturday morning, he turned to look at the girl sitting across from him, having to briefly do a double take.

What were the odds that in the day after he'd finally confirmed the survival of Hattori Heiji, that his childhood friend, Toyama Kazuha, would show up?

Well, she could teleport. Coming over to Beika whenever she wanted to was probably a piece of cake for her. Honestly, Conan had to admit that he was just a little bit jealous. In terms of special abilities, it seemed that all of the girls he knew had ones that were better than his own, convenient as it had proven to be in it's own way over the past few months.

"Kazuha-neechan, hello." Conan said, sliding into the seat next to Ran, deciding that it would be a good idea to listen into their conversation.

"Hello." Kazuha smiled at him. "It was Conan-kun, right?" She asked.

"Yeah!" Nodding his head, he beamed brightly at her. "I'm Edogawa Conan! Did you come here to check up on the case?"

"That's right. But Mouri-san is out right now, so I was talking to Ran-chan about it instead." Kazuha told him. "Although our topic admittedly did end up straying away from that a little..."

"Hey, what was he like?" Conan asked. "Heiji-niichan, that is."

"He's an idiot." Kazuha said frankly- but her cross look quickly gave way to a wide grin. "He's reckless, impulsive, and he has a super short temper, but he also has a strong sense of justice, and he's one of the top kendo practitioners in the country. Of course, he's also a great detective as well, and even though he sometimes gets it confused with being reckless, he's also really brave."

"You sound like you really like him, this Hattori-kun." Ran observed, noticing the way Kazuha flustered at her words. "Hey, don't you just love that expression that he gets when he solves a case? I've always felt that way about Shinichi."

"I know what you mean!" Kazuha nodded her head. "That look in his eyes... nothing makes me happier than seeing that!"

Quickly realizing what she had just blurted out, Kazuha's entire face turned bright red. "B-but, if you do find him, don't tell him I said that. He'd never let it go for as long as he lived."

"Well, I don't plan on telling Shinichi that myself, so you don't have to worry about that." Ran reassured her, as Conan glanced off to the side, not knowing how to break it to her that she'd just told him- after all, Kudo Shinichi was right here, sitting right next to her.

"But you must be really worried about him, right?" Conan spoke up again. "To come all this way to Beika just to ask uncle to find out where he is."

"Yeah." Kazuha said, nodding her head. "This isn't like Heiji at all. If he was involved in something bad, I always hoped he'd at least tell me about it, but I haven't heard a single word from since six months ago. I don't think he'd die that easily, but I still can't help but worry about him."

"I'm sure my dad will find, Kazuha-chan." Ran reassured her, reaching out to lightly squeeze her shoulder. "He's a really great detective, after all!"

 _Well, that's not going to happen, unfortunately._ Conan couldn't help but think to himself. _I feel bad for Kazuha-san, but it wouldn't be good if Hattori turned up right now._

The faster they could bring down the Organization, the better. Neither he nor Hattori would be able to return to their normal lives until then.

"Hey, Kazuha-neechan, when did you figure out you had an ability?" Conan piped up again, bringing out his curious child act at full force. "Ran-neechan told me she always knew about hers, but teleportation isn't something you'd discover that easily, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Kazuha said, nodding her head. "It was when I was about five years old, if I recall correctly... you know how sometimes when you're watching TV and you see somewhere you want to go on it?" She asked, and when Conan nodded his head, she continued. "I was thinking that when I was watching a show about the Great Wall of China, I believe, and the next thing I knew, there I was."

"Heh, that must have been a big surprise!" Conan said, his eyes going wide.

"It sure was! Luckily I was able to figure out how to get home, and I've known about my power ever since then." Kazuha told him. "Sometimes I'd take Heiji places with me. The two of us got to see all kinds of sights that way!"

"Heiji-niichan doesn't have an ability like you do though, right?" Conan asked, and when Kazuha told him no, he glanced over at Ran. "Didn't you tell me once, Ran-neechan, that there was a big test back when you were in second grade, where they checked for kids with special abilities?"

"Yeah, there was one." Ran nodded her head. "I didn't need to take it at the time because mine was already known, but a lot of other kids had to line up and take it. There were a lot of kids hoping that they would get the news that they actually had a special ability they didn't know about yet."

"Ah, I remember that!" Kazuha recalled, her expression brightening. "Heiji was so upset after the results came out! He was probably hoping to have a secret ability more than anyone else, but he came back completely negative."

_What?_

"Is that true, Kazuha-neechan?" Conan asked, hoping his shock wasn't showing through.

"Yeah. He was upset about it for months afterwards." Kazuha recalled. "He really sulked about it. Thinking back on it, it was kinda cute."

That was no way that should be possible. After all, wasn't the test supposed to be one hundred percent successful? Heiji very clearly had an ability, so why did his test turn back up completely negative? That didn't make any sense!

Unless. The gears were already churning away in Conan's head, putting pieces together. Unless there was someone who didn't want the real results to see the light of day. Unless someone had taken it into their own hands to ensure that his status as a potential Powered was completely hidden.

"Conan-kun, your phone's ringing, you know." Ran said lightly, her words breaking his concentration.

"Ah, sorry, Ran-neechan!" Conan jumped up from his seat, pulling out his phone. Judging from the caller ID, it was Ai who was calling him, and he took that as his cue to excuse himself from the detective agency. Heading out into the hallway and making sure nobody was around to hear him, he answered the phone.

"What's up, Haibara?" He asked. "Did you find anything more out?"

"I checked the database." Ai said, her tone rather matter of fact. "Hattori-kun's name is nowhere on it, Kudo-kun."

So it really was true then. His first suspicion was merely that someone had only hide the true results from Heiji himself, but it obviously went quite a bit deeper than that. "I see."

"You don't sound all that surprised." Ai noted.

"Yeah. His childhood friend is paying a visit to Ran right now. When I asked her about the test just a second ago, she told me that his result had come back negative." Conan said. "What does that mean, Haibara? Something's clearly not right here. We both saw that, last night."

"I was thinking that Absinthe might have possibly altered the database herself, but if what you just said is true, then that probably isn't the case." Ai said, and Conan could almost hear the frown in her voice. "It's very possible that someone was hiding the fact that Hattori-kun had an ability in the first place. From even Hattori-kun himself, it seems."

"But how would you even hide an ability like that in the first place?" Conan asked. "Even Hattori said that he healed like normal up until he was poisoned. Besides, it's not like the test even told potential Powered what ability they had in the first place, just that they might possibly have the chance developing one. There's no way anyone would know what his might have been just from that."

"I can't answer that." Ai said, shaking her head. "But I can tell you the most obvious place to start looking for suspects, if you haven't figured it out yourself, Kudo-kun."

"No, I already know that much." Conan said, heaving a sigh. "Most likely it's one or both of his parents that are behind this. At the very least, there's no way they're not related."

"If Hattori-kun realized that much, it might be part of why he left Osaka." Ai noted. "Well, I doubt either of them have anything to do with Organization, but I do have to admit, it's suspicious."

"Yeah." Conan nodded his head. "This probably requires further investigation. Most likely I'll have to meet the two of them myself to really get a good impression of them."

"You're going?" Ai asked. "To Osaka?"

"Yeah." Conan nodded his head. "We probably shouldn't tell Hattori about this. If he hasn't already realized it yet himself, there's no reason to give him cause to."

"I got it. I'll continue to look into things on my end, Kudo-kun. Be careful." Ai told him, before she hung up.

Taking in and letting out a deep breath, Conan tucked away his cellphone, before he quickly ascended the stairs, heading back into the detective agency. Practically making a bee line for Kazuha, he took a seat next to her. "Hey, Kazuha-neechan? Don't you think it would be a good idea for uncle and everyone to go to Osaka? He might be able to start finding clues if he started tracing Heiji-niichan from there!"

"Oh, that's right." Kazuha blinked. "That's a good idea, Conan-kun! I think I could probably arrange something like that."

"Then, I'll bring it up with dad when he comes back." Ran said, her eyes lighting up a little at the thought of visiting Osaka. "I've never been to Osaka before, actually."

"You'll definitely love it! It's a great place! I can show you and Conan-kun around while your dad investigates!" Kazuha eagerly said, almost glowing in anticipation. "Then, in that case, I'll go back to my place now and see if I can't make some arrangements. I'm sure that'll uncle will want to talk to Heiji's parents, so I'll bring it up with them!"

"Then, give me a call when you've got everything sorted out, Kazuha-chan." Ran said, before she paused. "Or you could come here and tell me yourself, now that I think about it."

"I'll do one of those two, then." Kazuha said. "Then, thanks for having me over, Ran-chan, Conan-kun. I'll see you two soon."

With a small flash of light, Kazuha vanished from the room, probably already on her way back to Osaka.

"Isn't this exciting, Conan-kun?" Ran asked him, picking up the cups that she and Kazuha had been drinking from. "Osaka! I can't wait to tell dad!"

"Yeah." Nodding his head, Conan put on his biggest and most childlike smile. "I can't wait, Ran-neechan!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I just kind of wanted to add this as an aside at the end of the chapter, because it's not that obvious, but Ginger's codename is a reference to Jamaica Ginger, an alcoholic medical tonic from the late 19th century that people drank to bypass Prohibition laws.


	6. Of New Bonds Forged

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conan forms a plan of action for his upcoming visit to Osaka, as Jodie arranges a meeting between Heiji and Shuichi that dredges up memories that the former would rather not recall. In the midst of all of this, a certain phantom thief has delivered a notice.

"It feels like headquarters has been unusually busy today." Wataru Takagi noted, frowning as he watched yet another member of the cyber crimes unit race down the hallway. That was the fourth one in the past half-hour, he thought. If it wasn't a member of the cyber crimes unit, then it was a member of the Kaito Kid task force making a break for it down the hallway. There had even been a near collision between the two types of the aforementioned officers. "I can understand why the Kaito Kid task force is running around given the heist notice, but what's going on with the cyber crimes unit today?"

"Apparently someone hacked the database list of Powered Children." Miwako Sato noted. "Naturally, they're trying to establish where a breech that big could have come from, but they don't seem to be having any luck."

"Again?" Takagi blinked, frowning a little. "That's the second time this month. Was is it the same person?"

"Mm, I don't think so." Sato observed, taking a sip of her coffee. "They at least seem to think that the two hackers came from different place. Besides, it's not like there's anything new to learn if you hack the same list twice."

"That's true." Takagi frowned, finishing off his own coffee. Well, it might have been bustling elsewhere at the police headquarters, but at least for the moment, Division One was extremely peaceful. Aside from the murder case that had occurred yesterday that had already been wrapped up, there was nothing really going on in their section. Which, considering it was homicide, was a good thing. "But isn't that database protected under some pretty heavy security?"

"I think so." Sato nodded. "Well, that's why they're all up in arms about it. They'll probably have to step up the security on it even more. If the parents of those kids hear about this, there will be no end to it."

"Well, they have every right to worry about their children." Takagi said. "Hopefully nothing comes of it though."

"Doubtful." Sato noted. "By the way, what's been bothering since yesterday? He looked somewhat annoyed ever since the two of you came back from that murder case yesterday."

"Ah, that." Takagi laughed a little. "Another one showed up."

"Ah, another would-be detective?" Sato asked, a slight grin on her face. "No wonder he's been so annoyed then. He's probably just hoping not to run into them a second time. What was the name of this one?"

"Takahara Akira, if I recall correctly. A university student, he said." Takagi hold her. "Judging from the fact that he was hanging around the Detective Boys, it's possible we might run into him again."

"So the Inspector also ran into Conan-kun again, I take it." Sato observed. "And to think he was always so willing to take help from Kudo-kun. I wonder what makes other detectives so different."

"Who knows. Maybe it's just because he's known Kudo-kun ever since he was a child, and is friends with his father." Takagi said with a slight frown. "Or that's what I've heard, at least."

"That could be it, I guess." Sato mused. "By the way, exactly what was Kaito Kid supposed to be stealing this time?"  
____________________________________________________

"Who the hell is this Kaito Kid clown?"

Jodie blinked, glancing up from her breakfast. Making a small face at Heiji's reading posture of choice- he was currently lying on the couch with the newspaper held aloft above his head, she nevertheless swallowed what she was eating. "A phantom thief, apparently. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him before, Hattori-kun."

"I've been busy." The Osakan detective noted, a slightly surly tone to his voice as he glanced over towards the fake English teacher. "So what? He runs around in that flashy white suit an' steals jewels?"

"I don't know that much about him myself, but it seems that way. It's not really within my purview." Jodie noted. "He always returns them as well."

"Then what's the point of stealin' em in the first place?" Heiji asked, quirking a brow. "If ya just want ta put on a magic show, there's easier and less illegal ways ta do it."

"I'm not sure." Jodie shrugged her shoulders. "By the way, speaking of Kaito Kid, apparently that Cool Kid has been getting himself quite the reputation as the so-called Kid Killer."

"Kid Killer?" Heiji perked up at the mention of his rival, sitting straight up. "What's that?"

"Apparently whenever he's around, Kaito Kid doesn't even manage to escape with his jewel." Jodie noted. "Well, that said, he hasn't been able to actually catch the thief himself yet. Don't tell me your interested, Hattori-kun? You can't go to the heist, they're all highly televised."

"I'm not interested in some weirdo in a white suit." Heiji said, getting to his feet. "Thieves aren't my thing anyways. I prefer solvin' murders."

"So I've gathered." Jodie noted, motioning towards the seat across from her as she took a sip of her coffee. "Your breakfast is getting cold, you had better come and eat it already. You've got a busy day ahead of you, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Heiji grumbled, scratching the back of his head as he plopped down in the chair across from Jodie. "I've got to meet this _Shu_ guy of yers, right? I haven't forgotten. What's he like anyways?"

"He's one of our top investigators." Jodie answered frankly. The more she concealed from him, the more suspicious he'd be- and she wanted him to trust Shuichi. "And one of the best shots as well. His sniping abilities are legendary amongst us." Taking a sip of her coffee, she leveled her gaze on the high school detective, watching him take a bite out of his toast. "And for a brief period of time, he managed to infiltrate them."

Nearly choking on his toast, Heiji downed his glass of water, letting out a sigh of relief when it passed through his throat. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Jodie nodded her head. She'd been trying to gauge Heiji's reaction, but she had to admit, she hadn't expected him to literally choke on his breakfast. "In the end he was found out before he could dive any deeper into the Organization, however. While he was there, the codename he went by was Rye."

"Rye, huh." Heiji blinked, frowning a little, filing that information away for later. He hadn't heard the name mentioned, but that guy was probably long gone by the time he'd gotten entangle with Absinthe. Frankly, he didn't know how to feel about meeting this guy in the first place. It was clear to him that Jodie had no shortage of respect for him- but he really didn't care for people finding out the things he was trying to hide on their. That little Neechan from the Professor's place was an exception, he thought, given that he didn't really have it in him to be all that suspicious of someone who looked for all the world like a child.

Briefly his gaze flickered up towards Jodie, wondering how she would react if she learned that the identity of the mysterious red hood girl from the bus jacking incident she had mentioned was actually the shrunken form of a former member of that Organization. Of course, he had no intention of telling her this. He doubted that Jodie would do anything to hurt that Haibara girl- she wasn't that sort of person- but there might be others in the FBI who wouldn't be so kind.

"So? How much does he know about me?" Heiji asked, managing to swallow his toast without choking on it this time.

"He knows about your ability, and why you were at that lab in the first place." Jodie said simply, her eyes narrowing. She knew full well it wasn't a subject he liked to talk about, and she also knew full well that the fact he wasn't fully disclosing what happened during that time period wasn't because he wanted to keep information from them. It was probably just to protect himself, if what she suspected had really taken place there.

She couldn't blame him. If anything, she felt sympathetic. If she could erase such memories, she would.

"He also suspects what Absinthe's research is really about." Jodie finished. "If you're not honest with him, he might suspect you of something, Hattori-kun."

"Sounds like a difficult fellow." Heiji grumbled, scratching the back of his head. More and more the impression he was getting of this guy was that he was the type that Heiji found difficult to deal with. "Well, whatever. It'll work out somehow. I'm not suspicious at all, after all!"

Jodie snorted a little, sending the teenager a wry grin, her tone half joking. "You're a mysterious boy living in my apartment in secret, who always hides his face, with a mysterious past, who is supposed to be dead. You're _incredibly_ suspicious, Hattori-kun."

"Shut up." Heiji huffed, grumpily finishing off his toast. "That's just if ya don't know me, that's all!"

"Well, I suppose that's true." Jodie observed, finishing off her coffee with a smile. "Anyone who gets to know you would understand full well just how stupidly honest you are. It's a miracle you've managed to hide yourself from them as long as you did."

"Excuse me fer bein' honest." Heiji made a face, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Is that any way a teacher should talk ta someone round her students' age anyways?"

"Oh that's right, speaking of students," Jodie blinked, a placid smile appearing on her face. "I hope you've been properly working on the workbooks I provided you with, Hattori-kun. After all, you're six months behind on your schoolwork." Her smile didn't falter as she looked across the table, gauging his reaction for an entirely different reason. "You have been working on them, haven't you?"

In an instant, Heiji quickly averted his eyes from the blonde woman, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. "S-sure I have! Ya don't have anythin' ta worry about that! I've _definitely_ been doin' em!"

"Then, I look forward to seeing your progress tonight." Jodie observed, her smile still plastered on her face.

"...Sorry. I actually haven't touched them at all." Heiji confessed after a moment, still unable to meet the FBI agent's gaze.

"In that case, don't worry, Hattori-kun. We have plenty of time to work on them together." Jodie told him, an undercurrent of a threat in her otherwise pleasant voice that told him if he didn't start working on it, there'd be trouble.

 _Out of all the possible FBI agents to get stuck with,_ Heiji thought to himself, a sense of dread rising in the pit of his stomach, _why was it the one who fancies herself a teacher?_  
_____________________________________________________________

"Osaka, huh?" Mouri Kogoro said as he looked at the two teenage girls in front of him, pondering the offer that had been posed to him for a moment. "Alright. I suppose that can be arranged. It's true enough that I probably do need to speak to your detective kid's parents."

"That's great!" Kazuha beamed, reaching over to take Ran's hands, a glint of excitement in her eyes. "And while your father is working on the case, I can show you and Conan-kun all around Osaka! Won't that be fun?"

Frankly, it was something that would take her mind of her worries regarding Heiji for at least a little while. She'd been doing her best not to let his disappearance get to her, but there were times when Kazuha couldn't focus on anything else. It was starting to impact her schoolwork, and she sometimes found herself distracted during tournaments as well. Giving her new friend a tour around the city she loved might be just what the doctor ordered in terms of lowering her stress level somewhat.

"Yes! I'm looking forward to it!" Ran beamed right back at her newfound friend. Really, she and Kazuha had been getting along swimmingly ever since they met just a few days ago. It turned out that the two of them had a lot in common- not only were their high school detective childhood friends both missing, but they both also practiced martial arts, and had plenty of other interests in common as well.

Perhaps it was because of that, that Ran could sense what Kazuha was going through. Her situation perhaps was the worst off of the pair- after all, she hadn't even got a single phone call from her childhood friend since he'd disappeared, and Ran had actually managed to see hers in person relatively recently. That was why she had decided to do what she could to help with Kazuha's worries, even if it only amounted to distracting her for a little bit.

"By the way, Kazuha-chan, have you had lunch yet?" Ran asked. "There's a good place near here that I think you'd like. Would you like to come with me?"

"I haven't." Kazuha shook her head, instantly lighting up at the offer. "But I would love to, Ran-chan! What kind of place is it?"

"It's a really cute cafe! They have wonderful sandwiches and stuff there as well!" Ran told her. "I'll get Conan-kun, and the three of us can go together!"

"Ah, if you're looking for the brat, he already left." Kogoro glanced up from his newspaper. "He said something about going over to the Professor's house to play."

"Again?" Ran said with a slight frown. "He just spent last night over there. Is the Professor's new game really that interesting?"

"Professor?" Kazuha blinked.

"Ah, Professor Agasa. He lives next door to my childhood friend, Shinichi, so I've known him ever since I was a little girl. He's an inventor! He's the one who made my limiter in the first place." Ran told her, tapping the bracelet around her wrist. "Conan-kun often likes to go over to his house to play, along with his friends. They call themselves the Detective Boys- isn't that cute?"

"It really is!" Kazuha agreed, nodding her head. "Then, why don't we swing by this Professor's place and ask Conan-kun if he wants to join us for lunch? I'm sort of curious now too, about this Professor."

"Sure, that's fine!" Ran nodded her head. "Then, let me get my bag and I'll join you in a second, Kazuha-chan. You can go ahead and wait outside, alright?"

"Yeah, I'll do that." Kazuha nodded her head, smiling a little as she watched Ran hurry out the door to the detective agency. "Then, excuse me, Mouri-san." She said, briefly inclining her head to the detective, who merely waved her out the door. Making her way out of the agency and down the stairs, she stopped at the bottom of the stairs, scooting off to the side a little to wait for Ran.

She hadn't come to this detective agency expecting to make a new friend, but she was glad that it had happened. A change of pace like this would probably do her some good, she thought. Reaching into her pocket, she felt her cellphone inside of it- as well as the matching pair of omamori that had been attached to it as a charm. One was her own, something that she had made for herself, but it's partner actually belonged to Heiji. It was still among the things he had left behind, and the fact that he didn't have it with him caused her worry to no end.

In the end, she'd decided to hold onto it herself, hoping that maybe keeping the pair together could somehow help Heiji, wherever it was that he'd vanished to.

"I'm here!" Ran called out, hurrying down the stairs of the agency. Pulling her hand out of her pocket, Kazuha greeted her with a smile. "Sorry to make you wait, Kazuha-chan. Now, Professor Agasa's house is this way. You'll be surprised when you see it!"  
_____________________________________________________________________

"So? Are you at least going to tell him about your upcoming trip to Osaka?" Ai asked, peering up at the currently pacing shrunken detective. "If he finds out that you went later, it probably won't end well."

"Yeah, I'll tell him that much." Conan said, nodding his head. "He'll probably buy it if I tell him that Uncle brought us along on a trip to gather information over there. Well, it's probably for the best that he doesn't know about it until after I leave, though. Somehow I get the feeling that if we tell him before, he'll try and follow us."

"You're probably right." Ai noted. "I'm curious about it as well, so you'd better properly tell me when you get back. The whole story." She said, leveling her gaze at Conan in warning- she didn't like when he left her out of the loop like he was doing recently. She was almost certain that he was doing it out of concern for her well being, but frankly, she didn't think it was necessary.

"Don't worry, I'll discuss it with you." Conan said, giving her a small smile. "I don't want to mention it to Hattori until I actually have something concrete to tell him. There's no way he doesn't think there's something strange going on himself, though. Toyama-san said that he apparently sulked after getting a negative result back from the test, so I doubt he's forgotten what his own result was. He's probably long since noticed this irregularity."

"Be careful when you go, Kudo-kun." Ai advised him. "Given the circumstances, I don't suspect of either of his parents being involved with that Organization, but it's still risky. They're the ones most likely behind this cover up, after all. Well," she said after a moment, closing her eyes. "It might simply be that they wanted to protect their son, and nothing more. But that still brings up the question as to how they managed to mask his ability all these years."

"Yeah, that's definitely the strangest point." Conan nodded, placing a hand to his chin in thought. "I can understand the _why_ of it. I remember well enough that there used to be people swarming around Ran when she was a child because of her ability, so I can only imagine how much worse it would be in the case of Hattori's, but the _how_ of it is what really has my attention. What's your impression, Haibara?"

"It's not impossible." Ai said simply. "Well, I'd need to more thoroughly Hattori-kun's body and DNA to really come up with any conclusive answers, but for the moment, that's completely out of the picture."

"You're probably right about that at least." Conan said with a frown, before blinking, glancing up towards the upper level of the Professor's house. He could just make out the doorbell ringing from the basement, and could hear the sound of Agasa answering the door. A few moments later, the man himself popped up in front of the stairwell, calling down to him.

"Ran-kun's here for you, Conan-kun!" Agasa called out, glancing back behind him. "She wants to know if you want to go out to lunch with her and..." He paused, checking behind him again. "It was Toyama-san, wasn't it?"

"Yes! Toyama Kazuha!" Kazuha introduced herself. "Ran-chan was kind enough to invite me out to lunch today."

Frowning a little at the mention of Kazuha's name, Conan glanced over towards Ai, silently asking her if she wanted to come with them. When the girl simply shook her head, Conan called back up to the Professor. "I'll go! Just give me a second, Ran-neechan!"

"Take your time, Conan-kun!" Ran called back down to him, before turning back towards Agasa. "It's good to see you again, Professor Agasa. Kazuha-chan really wanted to meet you."

"I heard that you made Ran-chan's limiters, so I was kind of curious." Kazuha told him. "I'm a Powered as well."

"Ah, is that so?" Agasa asked, smiling back at her. "Well I've made a number of assistance devices to help Powered Children like Ran-kun in the past... is there anything you might need, Kazuha-kun?"

"Ah, no, I'm fine." Kazuha said, shaking her head. "My power doesn't have many drawbacks. Well, sometimes I might get a headache if I teleport around too much, but that's hardly a problem most of the time, and nothing that can't be handled with normal pain medication."

"I see, so you can teleport! That's a rather handy ability." Agasa said, nodding his head. "Well, I won't hold up you kids any longer." He told them, noticing Conan coming up from downstairs, stepping aside to let him through. "I hope you enjoy your lunch together!"

"Thanks, Professor Agasa." Ran smiled at him, reaching down to take Conan's hand. "Let's go, Conan-kun. We're going to that cafe I took you to the other day. Remember it?"

"Yeah, I do, Ran-neechan." Conan said, nodding his head, before he looked up towards Kazuha. "Did Uncle Kogoro agree to come to Osaka, Kazuha-neechan?" He asked.

"He did. The two of you are coming along as well, of course!" Kazuha beamed. "I got Auntie Shizuka to agree to let you stay the weekend in her house. It's a really big traditional house!"

"Are you sure we won't be a bother?" Ran asked. "I'd hate to intrude. They're both probably troubled over their son's disappearance as well."

"That's probably part of why Auntie Shizuka agreed in the first. I think she's a bit lonely without Heiji around. It'll probably do her good." Kazuha said. "So don't worry about it! You won't be a bother at all!"

So they were going to be staying at Hattori's place, then? Conan thought to himself. He couldn't ask for better circumstances, honestly. That would give him plenty of time to investigate his parents to his leisure. He doubted they would suspect anything if a kid wandered around the house, after all.

"I'm looking forward to it, Kazuha-neechan!" Conan piped up, a bright smile on his face. That wasn't a lie, not exactly. He was, in fact, very much looking forward to this little trip- just not for reasons either of the two girls were likely to guess.  
____________________________________________________________

Awkward.

This was super awkward.

When Jodie had told him that she wanted to arrange a meeting between him and this Akai Shuichi guy who she worked with, he figured that she would be with them, acting as some kind of intermediary.

As it turned out, he was completely wrong.

It made sense, he supposed. The two of them thus far had taken great pains to not be seen together, so he didn't know why he had expected anything different. Of course, while the meeting itself was taking place in a rather private place- an FBI headquarters that they had set up in Japan for the sole purpose of this investigation, arriving together was out of the question. She had merely given him details about where it was located, and had sent him on his own way.

At least that mustached boss of hers was already there waiting for him. In retrospect, Jodie had a point- an unknown teenager actively working to conceal his face underneath the shadow of his hood and a baseball cap (not his favorite one, that, he had regrettably, lost to flames) definitely was a little suspicious, especially when he was walking into a building that was secured by the FBI.

After that, he had been left alone with this Akai Shuichi. Jodie hadn't warned him exactly how piercing this man's gaze was, and while it didn't necessarily intimidate Heiji, it was nevertheless more than a little difficult to deal with.

Especially since he seemed inclined to make Heiji start the conversation. He felt like was being interrogated again, honestly.

Eventually getting sick of the silence altogether, Heiji grumbled, glowering at the man sitting across from him. "So? Are ya actually goin' ta say somethin'? I'm pretty sure ya didn't invite me out here to have a starin' contest with me."

At the sound of Heiji's accent, the man's brows raised ever so slightly, but otherwise his expression remained completely unchanged. "I suppose this is the first time the two of us have met, considering the last time I saw you, you were simply an unidentifiable corpse."

"Charmin' openin' line. Ya must win the hearts of all the ladies." Heiji observed dryly, folding his arms in front of his chest and leaning back in his chair. "So? Ya called me here, so what is it ya want?"

"Jodie seems to trust you quite a bit." Shuichi observed, his tone remaining cool in spite of the Osakan boy's rising one. Quick to anger, he noted. "I simply wanted to get a good impression of you myself, Hattori Heiji."

"What's that supposed ta mean?" Heiji asked, one of his eyebrows shooting up in annoyance. "Ya tryin' ta imply something here?"

"Not at all." Shuichi said simply. "In our line of work though, it pays to be extra cautious. I'm sure you can understand that much."

"I know that much." Heiji grumbled, already getting the urge to hurry up and leave from this place. He was right- this guy was definitely the type that he didn't deal well with. "It ain't like I've been tellin' you guys any lies or anythin'."

"But you haven't been telling us the entire truth." Shuichi noted simply. "You described Absinthe to Jodie in quite a bit of detail, but you were rather vague when it came to describing her right hand woman, Ginger. Why is that?"

"Cause I really never got a good look at her face, that's all." Heiji said shortly, averting his gaze from him. "Sorry I can't help ya out there."

Shuichi's eyes narrowed slightly, realizing without a doubt that the boy was most definitely withholding information from them. He had no reason to doubt the story that he had told Jodie and James, but the fact that he was deliberately keeping valuable pieces of information to himself was something that bothered him. There was probably a reason for it, he figured- a reason that was probably more complicated than the boy simply wanting to deal with the matter himself.

From the sound of it, he already possessed at least one or two other allies he was willing to rely on quite a bit. The fact that he hadn't disclosed their identities either bothered him a little as well, and if Shuichi didn't miss his guess, the things that Heiji hadn't told the FBI, these allies of his might know.

"I see." Shuichi said, for the moment, deciding to drop the subject. This boy was the type to just clam up if you pressed him too much, after all. It would have to wait for a later day. "I understand from Jodie that you're probably already aware that Absinthe is still alive."

"Yeah." Heiji said, shooting the man a look when he dropped the subject so suddenly. "She's probably the one behind that Saint of Russia's kidnappin'. There's no way she isn't."

"That much we've established." Shuichi said. "Considering your ability, it isn't surprising that she would take an interest in that girl's ability as well. Most likely she only left you behind because she had confidence that she could find you again eventually."

"Ya don't have ta keep tellin' me things I already know." Heiji snapped, narrowing his eyes. "There's somethin' else ya want to ask me, ain't there? Just get ta the point already."

Quite the temperamental one, after all, Shuichi noted, his own expression remaining largely unchanged. "Very well." Closing his eyes, he leaned back in his chair, before peeking one open. "Nobody has asked you yet what exactly happened to you in that lab in Gunma. Most likely they're simply trying to consider your feelings. I don't doubt that you've been through something quite traumatic, but it is imperative to know exactly how far Absinthe's research into you got. How long were you there?"

He had sympathy for the boy's circumstances, of course, but there were things that needed to be known.

Bringing up the subject at first caused Heiji to flinch, and then grimace- before this turned into outright anger at the thought of someone wanting to pry into his experience there. There was an undercurrent of something else there- fear? No, not quite. At any rate, it was clear that the mere mention of his time in that place was enough to shake him quite considerably. "I was only there fer two weeks." Heiji said shortly, once again averting his gaze from the man. He didn't like that cold look in his eyes. "That was enough time fer her ta do plenty. Ya want the long or short list of all the ways I can't die?"

"You don't have to go into the details." Shuichi told him. "I'm not asking you this to dredge up bad memories. I am simply asking because we need to know."

"If yer askin' if she cracked the secret of my body or whatever, then no. She wouldn't be prancin' around kidnappin' saints if she knew that much." Heiji snorted a little, a slightly amused grin flashing on his face. "Well, she might just want ta fix her face, if she kidnapped that Russian girl."

"I see." Shuichi observed, his eyes narrowing slightly. "There's no doubt that she'll attempt to come after you again. You would do well to pay more attention to what Jodie has to tell you in the future. I'm certain you don't want to repeat what you've already been through."

For the moment, he chose not to mention the fact that it was very possible that Absinthe might decide to take more extreme measures of luring him out. It was to quick to say that she would act in such a fashion, considering it might also catch the attention of the other members of the Organization. Most likely, he thought, she wanted to conclusively complete her research before she presented her findings to the boss of that Organization.

"Yeah, yeah. I didn't come here ta get a lecture." Heiji said, rolling his eyes and getting to his feet. "Are we done here? I skipped lunch to talk with ya, an' I'm starvin'."

"Of course." Shuichi said simply. "You're free to leave. We have no intention of keeping you prisoner."

"Nah. Ya just wanna keep yer eyes on me at all times." There was a slightly icy tinge to Heiji's tone, before he turned around and left the room, pulling his hood back up. He stalked past that old man who was apparently their boss- he'd only ever spoken to the man in person once, so he didn't know this James Black character all that well either, and made a quick excuse for himself when he tried to stop to talk with him.

The first thing he wanted to do was put some distance between himself and that building. With a good block between them, Heiji finally stopped, leaning back against a lamppost, trying to take in a deep breath.

And gagged.

The burning sensation in his throat wasn't real, he told himself. The feeling of his lungs rapidly filling up with water wasn't real, he told himself. The pair of eyes, amber in color, that he saw staring at him from behind closed lids weren't real, he told himself. None of that was real. There was nothing preventing him from drawing in his breath.

For the moment, he was safe.

Steadying himself against the lamppost, Heiji's breath eventually came out in short gasps, as he shoved aside the memory of something he'd rather forget already.

"Hey, are you alright?"

It was the concern in the voice that kept Heiji from instinctively lashing out towards the source of it. Managing to take in and let out a deep breath this time, Heiji turned towards the girl who had spoken to him, her appearance alone prompting him to do a quick double take.

It was easy to mistake the girl in front of him for that Neechan from the detective agency, he thought to himself. He quickly realized it wasn't her though- when one looked at her closer, they didn't really look that much alike. Something in the overall way that they held themselves was fundamentally different.

"Do you need Aoko to call an ambulance?" The girl asked, visible worry gracing her features. "You don't really look that good."

"Ah, no." Heiji quickly said, shaking his head. He couldn't help but note the fact that she spoke in the third person- a slightly curious trait. Judging from that, her name was obviously Aoko. "I'm fine, really. Sorry ta worry ya."

"Are you sure?" Aoko pressed, not looking entirely convinced. "You look like you were having trouble breathing."

"I'm sure, don't worry about it." Heiji reassured her, flashing her a wide grin and standing up straight. "See? I'm fine."

"If you say so..." Aoko trailed off, eventually deciding to accept his explanation. He did look somewhat better, after all. Maybe it had just been a temporary spell? "Aoko is glad you're feeling better then! Aoko was worried after all!"

"Sorry." Heiji flashed her another grin. In truth, he was almost grateful for her interruption- it gave him something else to focus on, as much as he didn't like other people seeing him this weak. Well, it was unlikely he'd ever see this girl again, he thought, so it didn't really matter.

"I'm Nakamori Aoko, by the way!" She introduced herself, flashing him a pleased smile. "What's your name?"

"Heiji." He gave it to her without thinking. There was no need to go through the trouble of giving an alias to a girl he probably was never going to see again, after all. It didn't really matter. "Well, thanks fer yer concern, Nakamori-han, but I've got some places ta be."

"Ah, is that so?" Aoko blinked, before nodding. "Okay. But if you start feeling badly again, you really should call an ambulance!" She added, wagging her finger. "There's no need to push yourself!"

"I'll keep that in mind." Heiji said. "Then, later." Holding up a hand, he quickly made his way across the street, only briefly remembering to actually check for cars. Pausing to glance behind him once he made it to the other side of the street, he watched as the girl went on about her way, holding what appeared to be a wrapped bento box in her hands. Satisfied with that, Heiji continued on down the street, wondering where he should go from here. Jodie would probably be mad at him if he didn't show back up at the apartment afterwards, but...

Somehow he didn't really feel like going back right now.  
_________________________________________________________

"What are you doing here, Hattori?"

Conan didn't even attempt to keep the bristly tone out of his voice, as his eyes fell on the dark skinned Osakan boy who had apparently made himself quite at home at the Professor's place. He'd come straight back after having lunch with Ran and Kazuha, and the last thing he expected to see was Hattori Heiji sitting at the kitchen table, across from Haibara Ai, the pair munching away on sandwiches prepared by the Professor, going over what appeared to be school workbooks.

"Homework." Heiji said frankly. "What else does it look like I'm doin'?"

"You don't even _go to school_." Conan pointed out, before glancing across the table towards Ai. "Are you helping him?"

"He's bad at math." Ai stated simply. "It's more interesting than anything we have to do in first grade, even if high school math is still child's play to me."

"You're bad at math?" Conan asked, turning back towards Heiji.

"What's wrong with that?" Heiji asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Ya don't need math to be a detective anyways."

"It helps." Conan noted, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And? What brings you to the Professor's house to do homework when you don't even attend school in the first place, Hattori?"

"Jodie- _sensei_ was chewin' on my hide ta get it done already." Heiji said, tapping his pencil against his paper. "She likes ta act like she's a teacher even out of the classroom, after all. Says she's worried about my education. Not that it really matters anyways."

"That still doesn't explain what you're doing here." Conan pointed out. "Or how you convinced Haibara to do your math homework for you." That, he thought, was the most puzzling mystery of all.

"Geez, ya make it sound like I can't just come over to a friend's house whenever I want to!" Heiji complained, before reaching over to ruffle his hair, flashing him a wide grin. "What's wrong with it, Kudo? Ya weren't lookin' forward ta seein' me again?"

"You do know you're supposed to be in hiding, right?" Conan asked, knocking Heiji's hand away from his hair. "And what made you decide so quickly that we're friends?"

"It's just somethin' I understand in my heart, Kudo." Heiji proclaimed, placing a hand over his chest. "With time, you'll come ta understand it too."

"No thanks." Was Conan's short answer, before he pulled up a chair and took a seat, deciding to give up and accept the absurd scene in front of him. He hadn't exactly expected to see Heiji again so soon, in all honesty. Deciding the best course of action was to put up with the overly friendly immortal, Conan merely glanced over towards his workbook, taking a quick note of the question and answer written down.

"That's wrong, you know." He pointed out. "It was 1887, not 1817."

"Eh, is it?" Heiji blinked, glancing down at his answer, puzzling it out for a second. "Ah, yer right. Thanks, Kudo! Yer a real lifesaver!" Erasing his previous answer and replacing it with the correct one, Heiji then reached over and grabbed himself another sandwich, taking a bite out of it. "By the way, where have ya been?"

"Out to lunch." Conan said simply, glancing over towards him. "With Ran. And your childhood friend."

For the second time that day, Heiji found himself choking on bread. Grabbing a glass of water to gulp it down, he looked over towards Conan with wide eyes. "Kazuha was here?"

"Yeah." Conan said, nodding his head. "She came to talk to Uncle about the case, and then Ran invited her to lunch. They're really hitting it off, those two."

"Is that so." Heiji said, sounding a little surprised but not entirely displeased by this information. "An'? How was she actin'?"

"She's worried about you." Conan said simply. "But she's trying to do her best. I think meeting Ran has helped her a little."

From the looks of it, Heiji appeared glad to hear that. "That's good. The two of us have been together since we were babies, after all. I'm guessin' she didn't take my vanishin' act very well."

More than anyone, the person that Heiji felt the worst about leaving behind without a word had been Kazuha. The thought of letting her know that he was going to have to disappear had actually crossed his mind for a moment, before caution won out in the end. Sure, they fought a lot, but there was no denying that she was probably his most important friend.

She was probably mad that he had left her omamori behind, he thought. Well, it was probably for the best. If he'd taken it with him, it would have caught on fire like the rest of things. It was probably for the best.

"By the way, Kudo." Heiji asked, leaning his chin into his hand. "What's this I hear about ya bein' the Kid Killer?"


	7. Two Women Have a Chat in a Bar

"What's this I hear about ya bein' the Kid Killer?"

The expression that Conan gave him in response to his question was something for the record books. He wasn't sure if the distaste in it was due to the mention of Kaito Kid, or due to the fact that it was Heiji who was asking him this question.

"Where did you hear something like that?" Conan asked. Granted, it wasn't exactly a secret- his matches with Kaito Kid were often covered by the newspaper, declaring him the 'amazing grade school student who had kept Kid from getting his prize'.

"Jodie-han told me." Heiji replied, his grin growing with every passing second that Conan didn't answer his question. Oh sure, he wasn't interested in the phantom thief himself, but he was curious about the shrunken detective's relationship with him. "So? What's this about?"

"Kudo-kun has a reputation for stopping Kid in his tracks." Ai said, glancing across the table towards Conan, apparently immune to the venom he tossed her way at giving up the information so easily. "Normally when Kid steals a jewel, he returns it to the police after the heist, but whenever Kudo-kun's around, he can't even make off with them in the first place."

"Is that how it works?" Heiji asked, glancing over towards Conan, excitement written in his features. "He's got another heist tonight from the looks of things. Ya gonna go, _Kid Killer_?"

"Not a chance." Conan said shortly. "In the first place, the only heists I've attended are the ones I've already been invited to by that old man Jirokichi. I don't normally go to them because I want to." Granted, he found Kaito Kid's heists to be interesting diversions from the normal murder cases that he solved, but it wasn't like he was actively seeking out confrontations with the thief. "If you're so interested, why don't you go, Hattori?"

"Can't." Heiji said simply, shrugging his shoulders. "Don't really want ta either. Thieves really aren't my thing."

"So in other words, you're just interested in my relationship with him." Conan observed dryly.

"That's right!" Flashing a broad grin at the shrunken detective, Heiji nodded his head. "After all, when I think about you in yer tiny body facing off against some phantom thief in a gaudy suit... it's kind of hilarious."

The twitch in Conan's eye was the only thing that alluded to how deep his irritation ran right now. "It's not hilarious."

"It is." Heiji countered, nodding his head. "Well, I guess it's fine if ya don't have much of a sense of humor, Kudo. I always got the impression of ya that you were kinda a stick in the mud from all yer newspaper articles."

"I'm not a stick in the mud." Conan said, glancing over at Heiji, narrowing his eyes, before shooting a slight look towards Ai, catching the way she desperately tried to conceal a snort of laughter. "Seriously, what did you even come over here for, Hattori? For someone who won't even tell me everything he knows, you sure do act awfully friendly."

"I've told ya plenty already, Kudo." Heiji said with a slight frown. "An' what's wrong with bein' friendly? After all, we're more or less in the same boat. Or similar boats, I guess. There's no reason why we shouldn't get along, right?"

"I'd get along with you a lot better if you were more honest with me." Conan said. "Like for example, if you actually told me what Absinthe and Ginger looked like."

"Ah, now that ya mention it, I didn't tell ya, huh?" Heiji asked, blinking a little. "Why didn't ya ask earlier? I would have gladly told ya before, Kudo."

"I thought it was kind of obvious." His expression was just as blunt as his tone. "Then in that case, what do they look like?"

"Well, ya can't really miss Absinthe." Heiji shrugged his shoulders. "She's got a huge scar on the right half of her face, after all. There was probably a fire or somethin' she got involved in sometime durin' her life, from the looks of it. Got sort of an amber brown color ta her eyes, dark brown hair. Big fan on hair buns and looking real professional. That type of middle aged lady."

"Well, I guess she might have already gotten rid of the scar, if she really did kidnap that Russian Saint girl." Heiji frowned, leaning back in his chair. "With that girl's powers, somethin' like that would be gone in a flash."

"Wait a second." Conan interrupted him, locking eyes with his fellow high school detective. "I've heard about the Saint of Russia's kidnapping, but you're saying the Organization is behind it?"

"Or at the very least, Absinthe is. I don't know about the whole Organization." Heiji said, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't really know any other details aside from that. But there's no way she's not involved in it somehow, given that girl's ability. It's right in that old lady field of research, after all."

"Why didn't you mention something like that earlier?" Conan asked, jolting up from his seat. "That's sort of important."

"Now, now, calm down." Heiji said, waving a hand. "Of course, I'm bothered by the news myself, but I already tried to the approach of runnin' headlong into investigatin' Absinthe an' it didn't really end all that well fer me."

Of course he was worried about the kidnapped girl, even if he'd never met her before in his life. He knew all too well what kind of things Absinthe was capable of, after all. Granted, he didn't think she'd take such extreme measures with Maria as she did with him, but he doubted that she was going to have a pleasant stay while in Absinthe's custody. At the very least, it was doubtful that she would kill her- her ability was too valuable for that.

In other words, they had time.

"Sides, the FBI is in all hands on deck mode lookin' fer the girl. If that old lady's got her, then she's probably somewhere in Japan. Someone that famous is bound to ring a few bells if ya start askin' the right questions." Heiji said simply, his lips twisting into a grin. "An' when the FBI gets a lead, I'll get a lead. An' then I'll jump into chasin' after her. I've got more than a few debts I need to repay ta that old lady after all."

Heaving a sigh, Conan slumped back into his seat. He had to admit, Heiji was right- he knew full well that investigating any part of those guys was dangerous, and he didn't doubt that the FBI agents handling the task of investigating them knew full well what they were doing. He just didn't like the idea of sitting around and doing nothing.

Briefly, the idea of confronting Jodie with what he knew about her being with the FBI danced in his head, but for the moment, he put it aside. He already knew that the woman had some suspicions about him, the last thing he wanted to do was to allow her to connect a link between Edogawa Conan and the missing Kudo Shinichi. He'd hold on to that card for later, he thought, briefly glancing over towards Ai.

At the very least, he felt as if he could trust Jodie to protect Ai if all else failed. Of course, he wouldn't discuss the reason why the Organization was after her in the first place, but...

The sound of a phone's ringtone broke him out of his thoughts, and Conan blinked, instinctively reaching for his own phone. Quickly realizing that wasn't his ringtone, he frowned, watching as Heiji pulled out his own cellphone from his pocket, and made a face at the number displayed on it.

"Is your keeper calling?" Conan couldn't help but ask, arching a brow.

"Like I said, she's not my keeper." Heiji muttered, before making a motion for silence, and answered the phone. "Oh, Jodie-han! Funny that ya would call me, I was about ta call you!"

"We both know that isn't true, Hattori-kun." Jodie said with a slight sigh. "I heard all about your conversation with Shu earlier."

A slight twitch on Heiji's face betrayed his thoughts, still more than a little annoyed about his meeting with that man. "An'? Ya got somethin' ta say about it?"

"No." Jodie said simply, letting a breath escape her lips. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. That's all."

He honestly hadn't expected that question. For a moment, Heiji found himself fumbling for an answer, having been so thrown off his rhythm that it was proving more than a little difficult for him to recover. Finally, he let out an awkward sounding laugh, the smile that graced his features appearing somewhat dampened compared to his usual bright ones. "What are ya talkin' about, Jodie-han? Of course I'm alright! Well, I thought that guy was the type I was bad at dealin' with ta begin with, and it seems like I was right on the mark!"

Over the phone, Jodie heaved a sigh. She half wanted to say that wasn't what she meant, but she knew full well that Heiji knew exactly why she was asking the question in the first place, however much he clearly didn't expect it. Truthfully, she wished that he would open up to her more about what he had experienced over that two week period- a licensed therapist, she thought, would be even better, but that was really out of the question.

He needed to talk to _somebody_ about it, if his nightmares were any indication.

"Well, he's simply trying to do his job." Jodie said finally, deciding not to press the issue over the phone. "I'm sure you can understand that much, Hattori-kun. By the way, where exactly are you? I thought I said for you to come back to the apartment once you were done."

"I did." Heiji answered honestly. "An' then I left again. But hey, I'm workin' on those workbooks ya shoved at me! Ya know how much you were buggin' me about them this mornin!"

"I suppose that's true." Jodie said, a tight frown on her lips. "Don't stay out too long, Hattori-kun. And to think, I even went out of my way to purchase from okonomiyaki from that one place you like around here for lunch."

"What!?" Heiji jolted to his feet, his eyes going wide. Startled, Conan and Ai exchanged glances with each other, wondering if something bad had happened. When the immortal spoke again, however, their faces mirrored each other, blank eyes transfixed on Heiji. "Okonomiyaki? From that one place with the guy who's actually _from_ Osaka?! Why didn't ya say so earlier!? Of course I'm comin' over right away! Tell a guy somethin' that important earlier!"

Hanging up his cellphone and pocketing it, he turned towards Conan and Ai, flashing them a huge grin. "Well, ya heard the lady. There's some genuine okonomiyaki waitin' fer me back at her place, so I can't waste any more time here! Thank the old man fer the sandwiches!" Grabbing his bag and the books alike, all but scooping the one Ai had out from under her, he crammed them inside the bag in a hurry.

"Wait, I'm not done talking to you!" Conan called out.

"Sorry, Kudo, I'm prioritizin' okonomiyaki first! We can finish this chat later!" Giving him a mock salute, Heiji pulled up the hood of his hoodie, almost darting out of the door in a hurry.

"Honestly." Conan watched him go, sinking back into his chair. "What a guy."

"Oh? I quite like him." Ai said. "He's a good foil to you."

"Shut up."  
_________________________________________________________________

"Well? What do you think of my latest anti-Kaito Kid security system, Kaito?" Nakamori Ginzo asked, unable to keep from looking rather pleased with himself.

"It's... quite something." Kuroba Kaito replied, unsure of what to think of the ridiculous contraption that was in front of him. "I'm sure it'll work great, yeah." Nodding his head, he couldn't help but let out a slightly nervous laugh. Well, it worked to his advantage when the Inspector got it into his head to personally invite him to heist scenes ahead of time, all the more so when Hakuba wasn't lurking around, ready to mess things up.

That said, he still did enjoy the challenge the detective provided him with- although if he had to pick, that glasses boy was probably all the more entertaining. Dealing with them both at once was something Kaito both dreaded and was at the same time, greatly excited for- it was probably only a matter of time before it happened, at any rate.

Well, it wouldn't be tonight. Hakuba was out of the country, and since this heist had nothing to do with Suzuki Jirokichi, it was doubtful that that glasses boy would come. That made his job easier, but less entertaining.

That said, there was one thing bothering him, and it had nothing to do with the heist at all.

"By the way, Inspector," Kaito spoke up, frowning ever so slightly. "You don't seem to be at your best today. You look a little distracted, even. Is something wrong? Usually whenever Kaito Kid sends out a notice, you're more worked up."

"Ah..." Nakamori trailed off, wondering if he should tell Kaito something like this. Glancing around the room, he eventually determined that there was nobody hanging around to overhear him, and he leaned in closer to Kaito. "Actually last night there was another database breach into the list of Powered Children, including the possible candidates."

"Ah, I see." Kaito blinked, his frown deepening. "You're worried because Aoko's name is on that list."

"Yeah." Nodding his head, Nakamori pulled back, his brows knitting together. "Nothing happened after the first breech earlier in the month, but I just can't help but be worried... Keep an eye on her for me, won't you, Kaito?"

"Will do!" Kaito was quick to promise him, easily flashing him a grin. "This Kuroba Kaito promises on his life to not let any foul villain get near your daughter! But is it really alright to tell me something like that, Inspector? The police haven't even released a statement about it, judging from the fact that nobody's raising a fuss."

"Well, you're special, Kaito. I can't help but worry about Aoko, after all. Especially since recently she's got it in her head that once she awakens whatever special power she has within her, she's going to use it to capture Kaito Kid for sure." Nakamori said, folding his arms in front of his chest. "Well, I doubt that Kid would hurt her, but a father can't help but be worried about his daughter, right?"

"I can understand that much." Nodding his head, Kaito patted the Inspector on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it, Inspector! The chances that Aoko will ever awaken to a power at this point are pretty low anyways. But I'll keep an eye on her just to be sure."

Aoko's head had been filled with that fantasy ever since she'd watched that interview with that Mouri Ran girl from a month ago, it seemed. He remembered the incident clearly, even- she'd pointed at the television with great excitement and declared that if a girl who looked so much like her could be as cool a hero as that, then surely if she could just unlock her sleeping power, she too, could finally put that loathsome Kaito Kid behind bars!

Well for his own sake, he hoped Aoko's power remained dormant for the rest of her years. If only so he wouldn't have to listen to her rub it in his face that she had an ability, while he had nothing. It wasn't like he needed something like that in the first place- with his magic skills, it might as well have been like he had some kind of special power in the first place.

"Good luck with Kid tonight, Inspector! I'll go ahead and show myself the way out now." Waving his goodbyes at the Inspector, Kaito left the room in which his prize this time- a large sapphire by the name of the Twilight Sea- rested. He'd already set up what he needed to here, now was the perfect time to go and grab a quick bite to eat before he got ready for the heist later that night.

"Oh, Kaito!" Aoko's voice startled him from his thoughts a little, and he turned around on his heel, looking more than a little surprised to see her there. "Did dad invite you to look at the anti-Kid contraption again?"

"Yeah, I just got done looking at it." Kaito nodded his head. From the way she was acting, he doubted she knew anything about the security breech. "What are you doing here though, Aoko? Dropping off another bento?"

"Aoko already took care of that awhile ago." Aoko told him, shaking her head. "Aoko was just taking this chance to look around the museum before I headed home. It's not often that you get to explore one without a bunch of people bustling around. Well," she paused, frowning a little. "There are a bunch of cops, but they're not really getting in the way of the exhibits, so it doesn't really matter."

"Oh? I didn't really take you as the fine art type of person." Kaito raised his brows, his grin growing even wider as Aoko's eyes narrowed.

"What's that supposed to mean, _Bakaito_? Aoko can appreciate art plenty!" Placing her hands on her hips, she puffed out her chest.

"Yes, yes, I'm sure." Kaito nodded his head, patting her on the shoulder. "I'm sure you just went to the painting wing to count how many dogs there in the pictures."

"How rude!" Aoko huffed a little, a cross expression on her face. "Aoko will have you know that she also counted the cats! The birds too!"

"And how many were there?" Kaito couldn't help but ask.

"Fifteen dogs, twenty cats, and I lost count of the birds somewhere after thirty." Aoko dutifully reported, nodding her head.

"That's incredibly useful information, you should pass it on to the police right away." Kaito said, a mock serious expression appearing on his face. It didn't last long though.

"Shut up, _Bakaito_! Aoko is free to do what she wants!" Puffing out her cheeks, Aoko gave her childhood friend a rather sour look. "You're not really the art type either, Kaito, so Aoko doesn't really know where you get off saying such things in the first place!"

 _Well, I'm more of a jewel person myself._ Kaito couldn't help but think. "By the way, I heard from the Inspector that you haven't still given up on that silly dream of yours of catching Kid yourself. You just give up on developing your power already. Even if someone like you manages to get one, it'll just be something useless anyways."

"It will not be!" Stomping her foot, Aoko outright glowered at him. "Aoko is certain that whatever power she has it, it would be amazing! It'll knock that sneak thief's socks right off! Just you watch and see, Kaito! Aoko will show you soon enough!"

"Yes, yes, I'm sure. I'll look forward to seeing it, _Ahouko_."  
_________________________________________________________________

"It's rare for you to call me out like this. Frankly, I wish you had kept it that way."

"There's hardly any need for such a standoffish attitude, is there?" Blue-gray eyes fixed on the owner of the voice who had called out to her. In the dimly lit bar, there weren't many people paying attention to the fact that a famous actress was among their number. Even if there had been, their eyes would have likely been taken away from her by the sight of her companion's fearsome scar, something which she fruitlessly attempted to conceal by her hair.

"There's plenty." The woman said, taking a seat next to her, ignoring the bartender as he came up to ask her for her order. "What is it that you need, Vermouth? I'm quite busy with my research at the moment, I can't afford to be interrupted like this based on your whims."

"As cold as always, Absinthe." Vermouth said cooly, taking a draught of her own drink, before she carefully slid the empty glass across the bar. "It would do you good to get your nose out of that lab of yours from time to time. Think of it as a favor."

"I don't need any favors from the likes of you." Absinthe's eyes narrowed, anger boiling up inside of her. "Hurry up and tell me what it is you want, otherwise I'm leaving. I'm a busy woman, after all."

"I would imagine. It couldn't have been easy, making the Saint of Russia disappear like that." Vermouth said simply, her gaze sliding over towards her companion. Absinthe's expression barely changed, but the slight twitch of her fingers was more than enough to tell Vermouth what she needed to know. "You're involved in some very interesting research right now, aren't you? Something you're not even sharing with the rest of the organization, I take it."

"I'm simply waiting for concrete results." Absinthe said sharply, her eyes narrowing. She knew that the eyes of the Organization would likely be on her ever since she lost her lab in Gunma, something which had set her back more than she cared to admit. She had lost her most precious research sample, which although it had been something she had calculated for, she hadn't expected for it to link up with the FBI as it had. For it to disappear like that, this was the only explanation. She had expected to find it again after the explosion much sooner than this, assuming that it would have tried to hide itself even from the FBI. If she knew it would have ended up like this, she would have taken the higher risk of taking it with her when she escaped. "That's all."

"Always the perfectionist." Vermouth observed. "Well, you're free to carry out what research you will, I suppose. But considering the FBI managed to ferret out your last laboratory, I hope you're taking appropriate precautions this time to conceal the location of your current one."

"What are you trying to imply?" Absinthe's eyes narrowed. "My laboratory is very well hidden. It was just a fluke that those rats managed to find the last one. That's all there is to it. I didn't let them find anything important, at any rate." She said, the lie flowing smoothly from her mouth. She had, of course, allowed them to find the most important thing of all, something which still chafed at her to no end.

"Nothing. Just expressing concern for a fellow coworker." Vermouth said simply. "Well, I do look forward to the results of your research, Absinthe. I'm quite certain it will be very interesting."

"It will be." Amber eyes briefly locked with Vermouth's blue-gray ones, before she turned away, stepping down from the bar stool. "I would be quite interested in researching you as well someday, Vermouth. I don't suppose there's any chance you'd be willing to let me take you apart? I promise I would do my utmost best to put you back together just as pretty as you are now."

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass on that offer, as charming as it is." She didn't even flinch at the threat, knowing full well that she had no actual power to carry it out. The desire and the will of course, were there. "I don't think that person would be very happy to hear such a thing."

"Well," Narrowing her eyes, a faint smirk made it's way to the scarred woman's lips. "We'll just see who becomes that person's favorite once my research is complete. You should be careful, Vermouth."

Turning sharply on her heel, Absinthe made her way out of the bar, not pausing to spare a glance behind her. Her skin crawled with anger at the implications of that accursed woman's words- was she seriously trying to call her incompetent? Just because the boss favored her a little, she thought she could act so high and mighty!

Well, she thought to herself, letting in and taking out a deep breath. In the end, it wouldn't matter. Once she got her hands back on that precious research sample of hers again, she could finally restart her research in earnest. She'd learned so many fascinating things from it earlier, after all, and she knew that it still contained many secrets for her to unlock. Within that body were the secrets that she, and the rest Organization sought, and she was determined to find them.

Once that was taken care of, she thought to herself, her smile growing somewhat merry, she could use it for all sorts of other research. After all, no matter what she did to it, it wouldn't die. Just thinking of all the wonderful advancements she could make in medical science by using it sent shivers down her spine.

What a wonderful thing she had discovered for herself. If the Organization ever managed to find where Sherry was hiding, and she didn't doubt that they would, she might actually have to personally thank her. After all, without her poison, none of this would have been possible.  
__________________________________________________________

"I still totally don't get the appeal of that guy." Heiji glowered at the television screen, watching as the announcer almost joyfully reported the fact that Kaito Kid had made off with his intended target. "Why are there so many rootin' fer a thief?"

"I think they enjoy the theatrics of it all." Jodie said simply, reaching over to switch off the television. "He does put on a good show, I must admit that much."

"Is that really the sort of thing an FBI investigator should be sayin'?" Heiji asked, staring at her blankly.

"Well, it's alright." She smiled at him a little. "The shower's free if you want to go ahead and use it now, Hattori-kun. It's getting late, you should probably think of getting some sleep before long."

"What are ya, my mom?" Heiji muttered, though he nevertheless got up from the couch, stretching a little. "Fine, fine. I guess ya gotta get up early yerself fer school, right? For it just bein' a cover, yer sure into bein' a teacher."

"Well, when I was a child, what I wanted to be at first was teacher after all." Jodie told him honestly. "After my father was killed and I came to understand the reasons behind it, that changed though. Well, this way I get to live out my childhood dream a little. It's not bad."

"Heh." Heiji arched an eyebrow, frowning a little. He hadn't quite been prepared for that answer. "Well, I guess it's a good thing then." With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he started strolling towards the bathroom, before pausing, briefly glancing back towards Jodie. "Although, if they planted you inside of a high school, there's probably a reason fer it, right?"

"What do you think, Hattori-kun?" Jodie asked, a small smile gracing her features.

"I think that this Vermouth yer lookin' fer is probably somehow connected ta that school." Heiji said simply, before letting out a loud yawn. "Aw dang. I am kinda sleepy." Blinking his eyes, he gave Jodie a slight wave with one hand, as his other opened up the bathroom door. "Well, sleep well yerself, Jodie-han. I have a feelin' that things are gonna get busier fer everyone soon enough."

"Goodnight, Hattori-kun." Jodie said simply, watching him as he closed the bathroom door behind him. Heaving a slight sigh, she went into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water, before she retreated to her bedroom.

At the very least, she doubted that Heiji would try and openly investigate Teitan High School, if only because that was where the daughter of the detective that Kazuha had hired to look for him was attending. But there was no doubt that he'd turned his attention towards Vermouth as a potential source of information about the Black Organization, and was fully intent on finding out more about her. He seemed to understand full well that it was unlikely that Jodie was going to disclose more than her codename to him.

Somehow, she wasn't certain about how she felt about the two of them meeting. Of course, part of that was because she knew full well what kind of woman Vermouth was- a bolt of anger boiled up inside of her at the mere thought of the woman who had so easily claimed her father's life- and had nearly claimed that of her own. But there was something else there as well, the one thing that bothered her about Vermouth more than anything else.

Why didn't that woman age?

If she didn't miss her guess, it was that aspect of Vermouth that helped make her so absolutely valuable to the Black Organization. Of course, her skill with disguises was unparalleled, but there was more to it than just that.

Well, if she started worrying about it now, she'd never manage to fall asleep. Sliding underneath her covers, Jodie set her glasses aside on the nightstand. Sooner or later, she'd root out all of that woman's secrets. Honestly, she couldn't wait to see the expression on that woman's face when she learned that the daughter of the man she'd killed had come this far just to bring her down.  
_____________________________________________________________

Go to sleep, she had said.

Heiji grumbled loudly, eyes transfixed on the ceiling above him. Stretched out on the couch, he folded his arms behind his head, letting the smallest of sighs escape his lips. While his exhaustion might be beckoning him to give in and fall asleep, he couldn't help but resist. He had a bad feeling about what he would dream about of tonight, and he didn't really want to rush into that.

Shifting again, he removed his hands from behind his head, laying them over his stomach instead. He'd never really been much of the type for nightmares before this, and honestly, he wished he could go back to that. There had been less of them lately, but that fit he'd had this afternoon probably wasn't a good sign in regards to tonight's dreams.

He understood full well why the FBI might need some details in regards to the time he would rather not remember, but there were better ways to ask about it, he thought. Well, although thinking back on it, he had almost antagonized the guy into spitting out the question in such a hurry. An irritated expression on his face, he let out a frustrated sigh, briefly letting his eyes close, listening to the steady beating of his own heart.

"You seem awfully relaxed."

Heiji's eyes snapped open, all at once trying to lurch forward- only to find that he couldn't, as if his movements were restrained by something. Letting out a gasp of breath, his eyes strayed up towards the ceiling, realizing that he was no longer looking up at what appeared to be Jodie's apartment, but rather, a scenery that had become all too familiar to him. Bright lights filled his eyes, and he had to squint, turning his head to the side to avoid them.

"Were you perhaps having a pleasant dream?" The light in the amber eyes that watched him almost seemed to dance with amusement. "Pleasant enough to forget where you are, it seems. How does it feel to come back to reality?"

A cold hand was placed on his chin, jerking it upwards, forcing him to stare at the bright lights overhead, to meet the amber eyes that peered down at him. Wincing from the light, he struggled once more against the bonds, feeling them chafe at his wrists and ankles, his very breath and voice alike restricted by the one around his throat.

"Good morning." Absinthe spoke again, and there was a smile to her voice that was not mirrored on her face. "It took you only half an hour to revive this time. A new record, isn't it?"

Heiji's eyes narrowed, trying to focus. This wasn't real. It was just another bad dream. His all too vivid memories playing tricks on him. All he needed to do to end this was just to wake up.

"You won't wake up, you know." Absinthe's voice was cool, as she traced a line down his skin with her nail. "This isn't a dream. You already understand that much, don't you?"

Clenching his fists, Heiji attempted to avert his gaze from her, only to find his head jerked back towards her once more, her nails biting into his skin. For a dream, that prickling sensation of pain almost seemed too real. But this wasn't real. It wasn't real.

"You're still thinking that you managed to leave this place?" Absinthe said, heaving a sigh, releasing her vice grip on his chin. "Don't be silly. Those FBI agents didn't have a chance. Don't you remember? We're in a new lab now. Do you really think you'd have a chance to escape while they tried to invade? Don't be silly. There's no way I'd give up a research sample as important as you that easily."

"Go ta hell." Heiji managed to spit out, narrowing his eyes at the woman.

"Well, I suppose there's one method to prove to you that this is reality." Shrugging her shoulders, Absinthe reached over towards the closest tray, neatly plucking a scalpel from it. The metal object almost seemed to gleam underneath the strong lights above. Tapping it lightly above his heart, a wicked light danced within her eyes. "I've been wondering for awhile, you know. If I take out something this important, will you still move?"

His eyes flaring with anger, Heiji almost didn't process for a moment that it seemed his hands were free once more. It wasn't until his eyes snapped open once again and he found himself staring again at the ceiling of Jodie's apartment, albeit from a lower vantage point than before, that he realized that he'd fallen asleep. Above him, he could vaguely make out the worried figure of Jodie hovering over him, words of apology slipping through her lips.

"Are you alright, Hattori-kun?" Jodie asked as her words finally became more distinct, something he could understand. "Sorry about that, I just moved on instinct."

She knew Heiji was prone to lashing out when woken up from a nightmare, but this had been the first time he'd done so by attempting to strangle her. Whatever he'd dreamed about, it must have been particularly potent.

Letting in and taking out a deep breath, Heiji pushed himself to an upright position, already feeling the knot in his head disappear- and if he didn't miss his mark, it felt an awful lot like a dislocated jaw was busy correcting itself, a process which he let finish before he dared to speak. "Don't worry about it, Jodie-han. I should be the one ta apologize fer wakin' ya up."

"You don't need to apologize for something like that." Jodie said with a frown, offering him her hand to help him the rest of the way up, something which he'd taken after a moment's hesitation.

Hauling himself to his feet, he found his eyes glancing over to the nearest clock, making a note that it was already two in the morning. He'd been asleep for about four then, though it hadn't felt like it. "Still. Sorry."

"Do you want to talk about it, Hattori-kun?" Jodie asked, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder. "I'll hear you out."

"I don't need ta." Grumbling a little, he shook her hand off of his shoulder, taking a seat back on the couch. "They'll go away eventually."

Heaving a sigh, her shoulders slumping as she realized that Heiji was going to continue to be stubborn on this matter, Jodie racked her brain about what to do. Granted, her only official responsibility was to watch over Hattori Heiji and keep him out of the hands of the Black Organization- but she couldn't help but feel that her responsibility didn't end there. She wanted to help him.

The problem was, of course, that he didn't want to be helped.

"Hattori-kun," Jodie began again, only to find herself quickly cut off.

"Jodie-han, please." Heiji repeated himself, not meeting her eyes. "Just go back ta bed."

Heaving a long sigh, she gave him a light squeeze on the shoulder. "Alright. I'll do that then."

It wasn't until he heard the click of her bedroom door that Heiji let out the breath he'd been holding, blue eyes once more transfixed on the ceiling. He couldn't help but wonder if Kudo ever had nightmares like this. Thinking that he did helped provide him with some cold comfort, as he laid back down against the couch, deciding once more to try and return to sleep. This time, hopefully, his slumber would remain dreamless.

As he closed his eyes, slowly starting to give his body back over to sleep, a faint voice from a far more distant period of his memories floated through his head.

_"Listen to me carefully, Heiji. You can't tell anyone about this."_


	8. The City That Conceals Many Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conan arrives in Osaka, seeking answers to questions. Heiji arrives at Ai's place, and asks a question that's been bothering him for awhile now. And secretly, a woman connects a few dots.

Kazuha had been the one to greet them when they arrived at the station, a certain spring to her step as she spotted Ran. Conan had left strict instructions to Ai and Agasa to not let Heiji know that they were currently in Osaka, and to especially not let him know that they were staying in his house, otherwise he was almost certain that Heiji would wind up heading to Osaka himself, in spite of the danger. Either that, or he'd be angry with Conan.

While he had decided to pass off the idea of coming to Osaka as being someone else's, he did, at least, intend to speak properly to Heiji about anything he might uncover here. Perhaps that would be enough to cause the somewhat hesitant Osakan to open up to him completely. He had an inkling in the back of his mind that Heiji had some idea that there was something strange going on involving his own ability, and that it would likely be something difficult for him to investigate on his own now that he was no longer in Osaka.

"I'm glad you made it alright, Ran-chan!" Kazuha told the girl, a bright smile on her face as they reunited. "Ah, and of course, Mouri-san and Conan-kun as well. Well, let's not just stand around at the train station all day- I'll take you right over to Heiji's place! His father's probably not home right now, but I imagine Auntie Shizuka is."

"Hattori-kun's mother, right?" Ran asked, kneeling down by Conan briefly to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything on the train. Although he fussed at the attention, not enjoying being treated like a child, he didn't quite mind the closeness to Ran, at the very least.

"That's right." Kazuha nodded her head. "She's looking forward to meeting you especially, Mouri-san." Glancing the mustached detective's way, she spared him a quick smile. "I hope that your trip here is productive, at the very least."

"Don't worry, since I came out all this way, I'll make sure to investigate properly." Kogoro said. The fact that this girl had so quickly befriended his daughter gave him a little more motivation to do this properly than he would have otherwise- as well as the fact that he was going to be staying in the house of none other than the head of the Osakan police. He couldn't exactly bumble around in this investigation, not when it was about his son.

 _Well, hopefully uncle won't turn up too much on his own._ Conan thought to himself, sparing a glance up towards the man. _If he got involved with this whole mess, it'd only become a huge pain._

"Hey, what kind of people are Heiji-niichan's parents?" Conan asked, quickening his pace so that he fell into step with Kazuha.

"Let's see..." Kazuha frowned a little, her brows furrowing as she worked to come up with a good way to describe them. "Auntie Shizuka is a real beauty." She said finally, and Conan couldn't help but not the way Kogoro perked up at the mention of her being a 'beauty'- so predictable. "She was amazing at kendo when she was in school, which is where Heiji got his kendo skills from in the first place. She's always calm and composed, but she's also very kind as well. She's a great mother!"

"As for his father..." Kazuha trailed off a little, seeming to have a bit more trouble with that one. "Well, he's stern and a bit strict. He's not really the type to talk all the much. His father and my father grew up together, which is how I ended up meeting Heiji in the first place, but to be honest, I don't really know him that well. Heiji takes more after his mother anyways."

The stern silent type- well, Conan had heard that much about Hattori Heizo before. Apparently this applied to his private life as well as his personal life. Given what he'd seen of his son, it almost seemed like they were complete opposites.

"But it must really bother him, that he can't find his son anywhere. He's supposed to be an amazing detective, right?" Conan spoke up again. "I've only heard good things about him in the past."

"It does bother him, I think." Kazuha said after a moment, folding her arms in front of his chest. "He's better at hiding it than Auntie Shizuka, but I know he spends a lot of his spare time investigating Heiji's disappearance. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to work with you, Mouri-san!"

"Ah, yes." Nodding his head slightly, Kogoro pulled on his collar, wondering if this was really a good idea. People like Hattori Heizo were exactly the kind of person he sometimes had trouble dealing with.

"You're really interested in this, aren't you, Conan-kun?" Ran asked, glancing down at him.

"Yeah!" Nodding his head, Conan beamed up at her. "Because, he's also a high school detective like Shinichi-niisan, right? I can't help but be curious about him!"

"Ah, that's right." Kazuha said, looking Ran's way. "You're also childhood friends with that type, aren't you, Ran-chan?"

"Yeah." Nodding her head, Ran gave her something of a sheepish grin. "Well, even if I don't know where mine is, he at least calls..." Suddenly realizing that this might not be the best thing to say in this situation, she quickly hurried to add- "W-well, I'm sure Hattori-kun would call you if he could as well, Kazuha-chan! No, what I mean is..."

"It's alright." Kazuha gave her a small smile. "I'm sure wherever he is, Heiji's just fine. He's always been hardy, you know?"

"Really?" Conan asked.

"Yeah." Nodding her head, Kazuha gave them a small smile, her expression otherwise tempered by a long sadness, one that stretched out over six months. "He's never gotten sick in his life, for example. Even when everyone else at school was down for the count with a bug, he's always been completely fine. Well, it's like how they say- idiots don't catch colds."

At this new information, Conan's eyes narrowed. Not being able to get sick matched up with Heiji's ability- at the very least, even if he had healed physical injury normally during the time period before being exposed to Apotoxin, it didn't appear that this applied to other aspects of his life. He was obviously able to age, but something like aging wouldn't really be deemed as a problem by his body until he was at the very least getting closer towards being middle aged.

That was Haibara's running theory, at least. They still hadn't been able to perform any tests, so it was hard to say for sure exactly how his ability worked, but she was at least able to develop some basic working theories for the moment.

Well, he had a weekend ahead of him in which to unravel the secrets behind Hattori Heiji's mysterious ability, and the reason why he'd tested completely negative for being a Powered in spite of very obviously being one. And there was no better guise with which to investigate this than a child curious about 'a cool detective-niichan', as it turned out.  
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"What, Kudo's not even here?" Scratching the back of his head, Heiji couldn't help but look more than a little disappointed at the greeting he got from the old professor. "I was hopin' we could bump heads together about some stuff... when is he comin' back?"

"On Monday." Ai noted, glancing up at him. "Why don't you let him inside, Professor? It's no problem."

"Ah, yes." Nodding his head, Agasa stepped aside, allowing Heiji entrance into his home. Quickly thanking him, Heiji slipped inside, pulling down his hood as the door shut behind him. "Is there anything I can get you, Heiji-kun?"

"Nah, I'm fine." Heiji was quick to say, flashing him a wide grin. "Where did Kudo run off ta anyways? Did he get dragged somewhere by that detective agency uncle?"

"He did." Ai said, turning the page of the fashion magazine she was reading, barely sparing Heiji a glance. "I don't know where though. Well, I'm sure he'll tell me all about it when he gets back- how he solved whatever case it was for that aforementioned detective agency uncle."

"Kudo's sure got it rough." Heiji frowned, taking a seat across from Ai, beaming brightly over at her, something which she barely seemed to pay attention to. "I don't know if I could deal with adults not listenin' ta me all the time, an' havin' ta give all the credit fer my deductions ta some halfwit."

"He deals with it as best as he can." Ai noted, turning another page of her magazine.

"An' what about you, little Neechan?" Heiji asked, wondering if her fashion magazine was really that interesting, or if she just really didn't want to talk to him. He really couldn't read what this girl was thinking at all- she kept everything so closely guarded. "How do you feel about bein' so tiny?"

"I don't mind that much." Ai said simply, finally glancing up at him. "Well, it's a bother that I can't buy the brands that I want in this body, but at the very least, Haibara Ai has family and friends that Miyano Shiho never really did."

At the very least, Miyano Shiho didn't have any family anymore- her expression somewhat shifted as her thoughts drifted towards her sister. It was still a raw wound within her heart, so she didn't like to dwell on it often.

"Is that yer real name?" Heiji asked, tilting his head to the side. "Are ya sure it's alright, given' me somethin' like that?"

"It's alright." Ai said simply. "I trust you after all. Probably more so than Kudo-kun."

"Oh?" Heiji's brows lifted at he comment, seeming more than a little surprised by it. "Is that because of yer psychic powers?"

"That's part of it, yes, but not everything." Ai said simply, folding her hands in front of her. "You're easy to read, Hattori-kun, even without psychic powers. It's rare to meet someone so naturally honest as yourself, however dampened such honesty has become considering your current circumstances."

"Well, thanks, I think." Frowning, Heiji rubbed the back of his head, wondering if that really was a compliment. If he was easy to read, then the closely guarded and naturally secretive Haibara Ai was clearly his exact opposite in that regard.

"It's a good thing." Ai said simply, giving him a small smile. "I value honest people."

"Well, I imagine ya would, after dealin' with an Organization like that." Frowning, he carefully studied the girl in front of him. Frankly, he was more than a little surprised that the girl who had been described to him as a scientific prodigy had little to no interest in his ability. He kept expecting her to ask for something like a blood sample or something to test his DNA with, but no such requests came from her. Granted, he'd gotten a rather sour view of scientists as a whole lately, but he had a hard time imagining any scientist, or anyone in the field of medicine that wouldn't be more than a little curious about him.

"What is it?" Ai asked, pursing her lips slightly. "You look like you have something you want to ask me."

"Ah, no!" Blinking, he wondered if she could sense that much because of her ability, or if he really was just that easy to read. "It's just... aren't ya the least bit curious?" He asked, frowning a little, averting his eyes from her gaze. "About me."

Heaving a small sigh, Ai closed her fashion magazine, setting it aside on the table in front of her. "To be perfectly honest, Hattori-kun, I am." She answered honestly. "I have a million questions that I would like answered about you, and exactly how your ability works." She didn't even need to look at him to know that he'd flinched, a cold sweat breaking out on the back of his neck- intermingled with what was probably more than a touch of anger, she imagined.

"However," she continued, closing her eyes. "I don't need my ability to know that you've most likely endured something horrible at the hands of Absinthe, Hattori-kun. That much is clearly written on your face whenever we bring her up. I'm not a fool, after all, nor am I monster. It would be a different question if you willingly let me examine you, but I won't press you into anything you're uncomfortable with, especially after what you've already experienced."

"Well, I can't blame for you being paranoid." Ai said, finally looking at the immortal in question. "It's not just Absinthe and the Organization, after all, if word got out of your ability, you'd probably never be able to live a normal life again. Not only would there be no shortage of people who would want to examine you, there are probably plenty of others who might look at you as something other than human. You probably already realize that, right?"

His frown deepening, Heiji rubbed the back of his neck, still not quite ready to face the tiny girl in front of him. "Yeah. I realized that much." A slight sigh escaped from his lips, as he turned back to face Ai, a hint of a smile creeping it's way onto his face. "As it turns out, ya can tell a lot about a person from the way they react to my ability."

"So showing it to Kudo-kun and I was something of a test, then." Ai said simply, a small laugh bubbling to the surface. "Well, I'm glad that I passed, Hattori-kun. But you don't have to worry. I won't run any kind of tests on you without your knowledge. I properly cleaned the knife you used the other day without testing any of the blood you left behind, though for the sake of honesty, I will admit that I was tempted."

"Thanks fer that." Heiji said, a sudden thought sparking inside of his head. "Ah, but is it okay if I ask ya one more thing, little Neechan?"

"It's Haibara." She lightly reminded him, picking her fashion magazine back up. "But very well."

"This is a bit of a strange question, but have we ever met before?" Heiji asked, tilting his head to one side. "I just can't shake the feelin' that ya look kind of familiar, though I can't remember why."

Opening up her mouth to give him a decisive no, Ai paused, her lips pursing in a frown, brow furrowing as she actually considered the question. Now that he mentioned it, there was something that vaguely tugged at her memory, something long since forgotten. "To be perfectly honest, Hattori-kun," she began, a slight look of hesitation on her face, as if she weren't quite certain of the answer she was giving.

"I think I might feel the same way."  
___________________________________________________________________

"So this is the famous Sleeping Kogoro I've heard so much about. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Hattori Shizuka, just as Kazuha had promised, was indeed a very beautiful woman. With an air of grace and composure about her, the kimono clad woman's resemblance to her son was a bit hard to discern at first glance- but closer study of her face allowed Conan to notice that they had the same eyes. Most likely Heiji's overall body type came from his mother as well. From what Conan could recall of his father, Hattori Heizo altogether had a squarer, more muscular build than his son.

"No, no, the pleasure is all mine, Hattori-san." Kogoro was quick to say- it was clear from the expression on his face that he was instantly smitten by the woman. Ran caught it too, given the dirty look that she was shooting towards her father, and the way she butted in between the two of them, a bright, practiced smile on her face.

"Thank you for having us here, Hattori-san." Ran gave her a small bow, holding up a bag. "This isn't much, but I hope that you can accept this present for allowing us to stay here this weekend."

"My!" Shizuka took the bag from her, peering inside. "I've heard of this bakery before. If I recall correctly, you're Mouri Ran, aren't you? Kazuha here has talked about you quite a bit." Glancing down towards Conan, she turned her graceful smile towards him as well. "And you as well, Edogawa Conan. It's a pleasure to meet all three of you. We're more than happy to have you in our home."

"If you'll follow me, I can show you all to the room where you'll be staying." Slightly pivoting on her heel, her every movement echoing the grace that she carried with her, Shizuka allowed the group to properly enter the house. The group had been more than a little surprised by how large the Hattori family house had turned out to be- the Japanese style manor was a far cry from their own tiny apartment back in Beika. It even made his own house feel small, Conan couldn't help but think.

"You're Heiji-niichan's mother, right?" Conan spoke up, walking faster so that he could fall into step besides the woman. "You must be really worried about him, right?"

"That's right, I am." Shizuka nodded her head, a hint of a frown appearing her face. "And yes, I'm quite concerned about Heiji. He's always been the reckless and impulsive type, but it's not like him to simply vanish without a trace like this. He's not the type to run away either, even if he does fight with his father from time to time."

"When he first disappeared, we all thought he would return home before long, or at the very least give someone a call, but it quickly became apparent that this wasn't the case." Kazuha spoke up. "Before we knew it, six months had already passed without a single word from him. It's almost like he vanished into thin air."

Pausing midstep, Shizuka turned slightly to look back at them, motioning to the room on her left. "This is Heiji's room. You can look through it once we finish making you at home, Mouri-san."

Perking up at the mention of this, Conan carefully shrunk back into the group, letting them continue on ahead of him. Making sure that they didn't notice him doing it, he slipped inside of Heiji's room, carefully closing the door behind him again. No doubt that uncle wouldn't want him prying around while he looked through the room, so now was his best chance to do it.

The room itself didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. It's decor spoke to someone who loved motorcycles and baseball- and judging from the motorcycle helmet placed on the top of his dresser, it was possible that Heiji himself could drive one. Briefly, he wondered if he'd taken it with him, before he dismissed the idea. If he'd been careful enough to leave his cellphone behind so he couldn't be tracked by it, he probably wouldn't have taken the chance of bringing his motorcycle with him either.

Pushing himself up to the desk, Conan took a seat on the chair, looking over what was laid out on top of it. It had been more or less left just as it had been when he'd disappeared- on the desk, as well was throughout the room, he noted as he glanced around him, there were clear signs that he'd been packing in a hurry. The aforementioned dresser still had one drawer partway open, a shirt partially hanging out of it.

Briefly, he recalled the rather worn sets of clothing that Heiji wore, and couldn't help but wonder exactly how many sets of clothes he had. As far as Conan knew, he only appeared to have one pair of shoes- a well worn pair of boots that looked as if they were starting to fall apart. What newer looking clothes he had appeared to actually be woman's clothes, judging from their cut, which he'd most likely borrowed from Jodie. Perhaps he could bribe Heiji with some new clothes in exchange for the information he was still keeping to himself, but somehow Conan doubted it was going to be that easy. At any rate, he slated away the idea to perhaps see if he couldn't smuggle some things out of his room for him- wondering if he could do something like that without raising suspicion.

At the very least, Conan thought, he had the luxury of being able to live out in the open. Even if his shrunken form did cause him no shortage of problems, at the very least, it provided him with an excellent disguise. Nobody looking for Kudo Shinichi would think twice about the grade school student that somewhat looked like him- nobody except for Hattori Heiji and Haibara Ai, at the very least. Even Ran was easy enough to deter with just a bit of effort on his part.

Jumping off the chair, Conan glanced around the room, trying to see if there was anything else that might leap out at him. Ducking down, he peered under the bed, before he followed his instincts and checked every nook and cranny for any possible clues. Frowning, he stepped back, putting a hand to his chin in thought. Well, he didn't exactly expect this to be easy, and it was likely that if Heiji himself didn't suspect anything unnatural about the claim that he wasn't a Powered until recently, there probably wouldn't have been anything in his room to start with to hint otherwise to this.

He'd start by questioning his parents. If his running theory was correct, and they had gone to such lengths to cover up their son's ability in order to protect him, he didn't imagine that it would be all that easy to get information out of them- and that was where looking like a child would come in handy for once. Whatever guard they might put up to an adult asking questions, they might lower if it was an overly curious child.

The biggest question by far that lingered in his mind was not what their motivation might be for concealing his powers- but exactly how they had carried it out. If what Kazuha had said earlier was true, and Heiji had never gotten sick even once in his life, it was entirely possible that his ability had been active on some level throughout his entire life. Likewise, if his parents knew it was something that they needed to hide in the first place, they probably had some idea of what it was- but how? And how did they make it seem like he was normal all throughout his childhood?

Glancing once more at the picture on his desk, eyes locking with the smiling eyes of a somewhat younger version of the teenager he'd come to know over the past week or so, his gaze drifted to the band-aid on his cheek in the picture. Where his parents perhaps in contact with someone who was able to somehow reverse the effects of Heiji's own ability? Whoever it was must have been nothing short of a genius, and was likely someone that they highly trusted.

"Geez, Conan-kun!" Conan flinched a little at the sound of Ran's voice, slowly turning around to face the irritated girl. "Just when I thought you had run off somewhere, you're in here poking around Hattori-kun's things. What if you make things harder for dad later?" She asked, taking him by the hand and all but dragging him out of the room. "You shouldn't do things like that without permission."

"I'm just curious about Heiji-niichan!" Conan chirped, the somewhat guilty expression on his face being rather genuine. "Hey, Kazuha-neechan, can Heiji-niichan drive a motorcycle? I saw a helmet in his room!"

"Yes, he can!" Kazuha nodded. "Although he didn't bring his own with him, if that's what you're wondering. It's still out in front if you want to look at it, Conan-kun."

"I see! That's really cool!" Beaming up at Kazuha, Conan folded his arms behind his head. "Can you tell me more about Heiji-niichan, Kazuha-neechan? You've known him ever since you were my age, right?"

"Longer than that, even. We've been together since at least before preschool." Kazuha told him. Although the expression on her face was one of fondness, there was also an undeniable echo of concern in it. "He's pretty much never changed. He's always been a loud, reckless idiot who always charged in without thinking and always ended up getting himself hurt. Poor Auntie Shizuka often had her hands full with him when he was little."

"When did he start doing detective work?" Ran asked, somewhat curious about it herself. Although Shinichi had admired detectives and liked to pretend to be something akin to one ever since preschool, he hadn't earnestly started trying to solve cases until at least middle school. "It was in middle school for Shinichi."

"Ah, it was the same for Heiji!" Kazuha chirped, her expression becoming all the more vivid. "The first time he really helped with a case seriously was in middle school, while we were on a ski trip. If I recall correctly, a famous actor was murdered, and everyone said that a-"

"A yukionna did it?" Ran finished her sentence, blinking a little.

"Yeah." Slowly nodding her head, a look of confusion came across Kazuha's face. "How did you know that, Ran-chan? Unless..." Folding her arms in front of her, her brows knitted together. Back then, there had been another middle school student who had acted as a detective, and from what she could recall, there had been a girl with him too. That couldn't have possibly been...

Conan had already made the connection, trying to not let his surprise show on his face. To think that he had actually crossed paths with Heiji before any of this had happened- if there was such a thing as fate, then perhaps this was it. Briefly, he wondered if Heiji knew, but quickly shelved that idea.

"Ah, then, that other middle school student who solved the case must have been Hattori-kun!" Ran clapped her hands, her eyes lighting up. "It must have been fate, Kazuha-chan!"

"Right?" Kazuha laughed, giving Ran a slight grin. "And to think, the both of them have flaked off to somewhere, leaving their childhood friends behind. What are the odds?"

"I'm sure they'll come back eventually, the both of them." Ran was quick to say, a soft smile on her face as she placed a hand on Kazuha's shoulder. Behind her flippant joke, there was real pain, she knew that much. "Safe and sound. We just have to have faith, Kazuha-chan."

"Yeah, I know." Nodding her head, Kazuha placed her own over Ran's, a bright smile lighting up on her face. "Well, after they finally come home, we can both give them a piece of our minds too, right?"

The context was clear in her words- by 'piece of her mind', Kazuha clearly meant that she was going to make sure Heiji saw the dojo floor, close up and personal, for putting her through what she had. Vaguely Conan wondered whether or not he should give the Osakan detective an advanced warning- but chances were, if he'd known Kazuha for this long, he already knew full well what was awaiting him when he was finally able to return home.

Hopefully, at the very least, there would be a homecoming.  
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The disappointment had been crystal clear on Ran's face when Conan made up an excuse to not come with her as Kazuha took her on a grand tour of everything that Osaka had to offer. As much as he honestly kind of wanted to go with her, he only had two days in this city, and he knew he'd have to make good use of them. He couldn't exactly do that if he was being tugged around by Ran all day.

Making his way into the living room of the Hattori household, Conan peered in. Heiji's mother was there, her hands working away as she knitted something. Deciding that this was a good chance, he hurried over towards her side. "Hey, Auntie!" He spoke up, taking a seat on the couch next to her, a bright smile on her face. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, Conan-kun, wasn't it?" Shizuka blinked, looking down at him. "You didn't go with Ran-san and Kazuha?"

"No." Conan shook his head. "I'm a little tired from the train trip." He lied. "Besides, I didn't want to get in Ran-neechan and Kazuha-neechan's way."

"I see." A slight smile twitched at her lips, before Shizuka looked down at her knitting work. "As for what I'm doing, I'm knitting. It's going to be a scarf, I think. Though to be quite honest with you, Conan-kun, I'm not really certain yet. Sometimes I just enjoy the motions of knitting. It's calming."

"Is it because you're worried about Heiji-niichan?" Conan asked, and when the woman inclined her head in confirmation, he decided to venture on. "Hey, what was he like when he was my age? You see, I want to be a detective when I grow up too, so I'm interested in them! Do you have any pictures or anything like that, Auntie?"

"Ah, I do." Shizuka gave him a quick smile, carefully setting down her knitting work. "Would you like to see them, Conan-kun?"

"Yeah!" Nodding his head, Conan gave her his biggest and brightest smile. "I do!"

"Then, wait just a second." Shizuka told him, before heading out of the room. She returned after a few minutes, carrying a pair of albums in her arms, which she set down before Conan before taking a seat herself, handing him the first one. "I've always been the type to take a lot of pictures to begin with, so I've got plenty for you to look at."

"Thank you!" Opening up the first album, he was greeted by a number of photographs, each of them featuring the same broadly smiling dark skinned child. Kazuha, he couldn't help but note, was in no small number of these photos- she had been in the one on Heiji's desk as well, now that he thought about it. As he flipped through the pages of the album, he couldn't help but notice that there was no shortage of photos in which Heiji was covered in band-aids, and a number of them where there were bruises still vivid against his dark skin.

"Did he get hurt a lot?" Conan asked, glancing up at Shizuka.

"Yes." Shizuka nodded her head, carefully pointing towards one of the photos, which featured Heiji with a number of band-aids on his arms. "He got this one when he shoved his hands in a rose bush because there was a dog hiding in there. And this one here," she said, motioning to another photo, where there was a vivid bruise blooming against his shoulder. "When he fell down while learning how to ride a bike."

"He was always getting hurt as a child." Shizuka said with a slight laugh, apparently looking back somewhat fondly on it. "He'd either race off before he really knew what he was doing, or he'd just lose his balance and fall. He was actually pretty uncoordinated as child, that's part of why I had him take up kendo in the first place." She told him, tapping on another photograph that showed a young Heiji wearing practice clothes for the martial art in question.

So far what she was telling him seemed to be consistent with what Kazuha had said. He'd considered for a moment that perhaps the band-aids merely concealed the fact that there were not cuts or scrapes where they should be, but the bruises caused him to discard that theory. If that really was the case, then how did they arrange it so that his healing ability, at the very least, resembled that of a normal human's for so long?

There was a huge piece of this puzzle that he was missing. He understood that, if nothing else.

"Ah, he looks really down in this picture." Conan paused, taking note of a photograph in which a young Kazuha seemed to be trying to comfort a rather depressed looking Heiji, who had all but curled himself up into a ball. "Did something bad happen?"

"Ahh, that." Shizuka laughed a little. "You might be too young to know about such a thing, Conan-kun, but when Heiji was in second grade, they had a big nationwide test for children who had been born after the Night of Falling Stars."

"I know about!" Conan all but chirped. "Ran-neechan told me all about it. She said that all the kids her age except for the ones who already knew they were Powered lined up and got samples of their blood taken!"

"Yes, that's right." Shizuka nodded her head, a hand straying up towards his hair, giving it a light ruffle. For once, he allowed it, given the expression on her face- fond nostalgia mixed with a much more recent pain. "Heiji had been hoping to learn that he had a secret power, like Kazuha, so when it turned out that he didn't, he was really disappointed for quite some time afterwards."

"There are a lot of Powered Children in Osaka, right?" Conan asked.

"That's correct. You sure know your stuff, Conan-kun." Shizuka smiled. "Well, eventually he got over it, but he sulked a lot back then. Well, it was cute in it's own way, though."

Gaze flickering up towards her face, he carefully studied the woman for any trace of a lie. Either she was very skilled at lying, the exact opposite of her son, or she truly didn't know anything. He couldn't help but note the way her gaze lingered over the photo in question for what seemed a little too long- and his detective's intuition told him that there was something more there.

"Where do you think he might, Auntie?" Conan asked, deciding to take a small gamble. "Ran-neechan said that Shinichi-niichan ran off to solve a difficult case. Do you think Heiji-niichan might be doing the same?"

Slightly surprised at the question, Shizuka frowned. "I can't really say, Conan-kun." Shaking her head, she lightly stroked his hair once more, her brow creasing in worry. "I'm sure that wherever he is, he's fine though. He's always been the type to bounce back from just about anything."

"Maybe he's been abducted by bad guys?" Conan asked, tilting his head slightly. "You know, that's what happens sometimes on Kamen Yaiba episodes! The hero of justice gets captured by bad guys!"

That earned him reaction, at the very least, and he immediately felt incredibly bad about it. Shizuka's hand froze in place, not moving from his head, her already pale face growing all the more white. It was as if he had deeply struck a nerve, hitting on what appeared to be a deeply rooted worry of hers.

She knew something, he couldn't help but think.

"But well, I don't know why anyone would want to take Heiji-niichan though." Conan said, giving her a quick smile. "I know that real life doesn't work like it does in Kamen Yaiba, after all!"

"It would be a bit nice if it did." Shizuka spoke up finally, her gentle expression growing somber, hand finally resuming it's light stroking of his hair. "After all, in those shows, the good guy always wins and returns home, right?"

"That part probably works the same in real life too!" Conan was quick to say, feeling a stab of guilt go through him. He might have gone searching for answers, but he hadn't wanted to do it at the cost of causing a new wave of pain to his mother. "I'm sure Heiji-niichan will come back home soon! After all, you have Uncle Kogoro looking into his disappearance now! He'll find him in a flash!"

"You're right." Although Shizuka smiled at him, it was clearly one of sadness. "I'm sure he'll come back home soon, acting like nothing happened."

He could only hope that would really become the case. At the very least, if they managed to catch Absinthe and Ginger, then it would become possible for Heiji, at least, to return home. As long as the rest of the Organization didn't learn about his ability, then he would be able to live freely out in the open once again.

But, if the rest of the Organization were to learn about it... Conan couldn't mask the frown that thought gave him, and didn't even try. If the rest of the Organization were to learn about it, things would only get far, far more complicated from then on.

He just had to hope that wouldn't happen.  
_____________________________________________________________

"Well then, little Neechan," Heiji flashed the girl a wide grin, twitching up the hood of his hoodie again, his face once more shadowed by it. They hadn't managed to figure out an answer to the question that had burning in the back of Heiji's mind, and had decided to put it aside for the moment. "I'll see ya some other day. Give Kudo my regards whenever he comes back from Osaka!"

"I will." Ai said simply, not feeling the need to ask when Heiji had managed to figure out where it was that Conan had gone off to. "Should I tell him to bring you back something?"

"Nah, I wanna pretend ta be mad at him when he gets back an' make him squirm." Heiji told her, his grin only growing as he thought about it. "Well, I probably know why he's gone there in the first place."

"You're a lot more honest with me than you are with him." Ai couldn't help but note. "How strange, given that I'm more or less the reason you have to live the way you are now."

"Nah, s'not yer fault." Heiji said easily. Even though she couldn't really see his expression, she could tell that his words were completely sincere. "Don't worry 'bout it. What's done is done anyways. Bein' immortal isn't exactly completely horrible, ya know? There's some plus sides ta it."

"Like not being seven?"

"Exactly." Nodding his head, Heiji opened up the door behind him. "Well, I'll probably talk properly with Kudo when he gets back. If he's goin' ta be sneakin' round behind my back like this, I might as well be frank with him. Anyways, later, little Neechan!"

"It's Haibara!" Ai called out after him, frowning a little as he just waved at her, closing the door behind him.

As Heiji turned to leave, humming a small tune underneath his breath, he failed to notice the pair of eyes that were watching him from a distance. Likewise, he failed to take note of the photo that was taken of him as he exited the Agasa residence, before he headed on his way down the street.

The photographer lingered, her gray blue eyes watching the young man leave, before they turned back towards the house before her. It had been the true target of her spying, after all, although the boy who visited it did catch her interest.

"What an unusual guest you had today, Cool Guy." Vermouth smiled to herself, lowering her camera and bringing up the photograph of the young man in question. She couldn't make out his face- but it didn't matter. Although she didn't have a name to place to him, she already knew his face.

"Test Subject 001." The words rolled off her lips, for none other than herself to hear. "To think that Absinthe's escaped test subject would be involved with Cool Guy as well. Truly fascinating."

Absinthe was involved in some rather interesting research after all. It had been quite worth it to pry into her systems, Vermouth thought to herself, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face.

Perhaps Araide Tomoaki should find an excuse to meet with this curious young man. Now would be the best time to do so, while that Cool Guy was still gone. If she played her cards right, she might even be able to draw out the one who she desired the most.

The little red riding hood girl from the bus. The organization's traitor.

Sherry.

For the moment, though, she should give _that person_ a call.


	9. Sixteen Out of Sixty Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Conan looks for traces left behind by the Organization in Osaka, Ran and Kazuha stumble upon a woman looking for her missing son. With a rumor flying around that those on the list of potential Powered have started to go missing, black hands reach out towards a girl who bears a blue name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN- I actually had planned to end this chapter with an extra scene, but cutting to it after what I would have left off on in the previous scene seemed a little out of place. That said, everyone will have to wait until next chapter for mention of a certain character who will be appearing *way ahead of schedule* as compared to the canon series. Look forward to it!

One of the things that had been on Conan's to do list upon arriving in Osaka was to find the location where Heiji had originally crossed paths with the Organization in the first place. He doubted that there would be any traces of them left, especially after six months had passed, but it was possible that Heiji himself might have left some kind of trace behind. It was worth checking out, at the very least.

Of course, Heiji hadn't actually disclosed where the location was- but judging from the information that he'd given him, he knew that he could probably figure it out, however unfamiliar he was with Osaka. He'd mentioned that he had been wrapping up a case that he had been involved in, that was located in a warehouse district. With that sort of information, he could narrow down the search site quite considerably.

It also meant sneaking out on his own, something for which he was almost entirely certain that Ran would kill him for over later, but it was more than worth it. After the way Heiji's mother had reacted to his line of questioning, he was more than a little hesitant to press her for anymore answers- and he'd very quickly determined after meeting him in person that he had almost no chance of getting anything out of Hattori Heizo.

He was somehow _a lot_ larger than he appeared on television. Perhaps it was simply just because he himself was so small now.

As he suspected, it wasn't that difficult to narrow down his search area. A quick search of articles related to Heiji from six months ago had allowed him to quickly figure out which case it was. From there, finding the location of the aforementioned warehouses wasn't all that difficult, and as he navigated the Osaka streets guided by directions taken off the Internet, it wasn't all that long until he made it to his destination.

It was the morning of their second day there, and Conan had once again slipped away from Ran and Kazuha by making an excuse to stay behind. One that would become transparently obvious once they returned home from their sightseeing- but he'd deal with that when it came to it. For the moment, he switched his phone onto silent, because he was certain that Ran would call him pretty much non-stop the moment she realized he wasn't where he said he would be.

"This is the place." Looking up at the otherwise unassuming warehouse in front of him, Conan tucked his phone back away. The last article to mention Heiji being involved in any kind of case had listed this warehouse as the site of it- a murder, from the sound of it. Six months later, any traces of the murder had long since been wiped away, but that wasn't what he had come to see anyways.

Standing just to the side of the warehouse doors, Conan's eyes narrowed, trying to figure out where Heiji might have gone from here. There were too many warehouses around to search them each for traces individually, so it would be useful if he could narrow it down somewhat.

He'd mentioned a really huge guy, Conan thought, folding his arms in front of his chest. If his intuition was correct, it was possible that he might be referring to Tequila, an Organization member that had gotten mixed up in a murder plot and had wound up unexpectedly being killed. He fit the description sure enough- and he had spoken using the Kansai dialect, if he recalled correctly. It wouldn't be strange if he worked more heavily in the Kansai area usually.

A woman who matched the description of Absinthe would stick out too- it wasn't that often you saw people with burn scars on their faces. From what little he'd gathered about Ginger, she sounded like she'd stick out somewhat too. Perhaps his best bet was to start asking questions, and hope for the best. At the very least, he hoped he could find someone who had taken notice of at least one of them and had remembered them even after six months.

Well, the first thing to do was to start speaking with people. Luckily the warehouse district was more than bustling with life that morning, people hard at work all around him. As expected, a number of them brushed him off for being a kid asking them a strange question in the middle of work, but there were a few that took the time to answer him. And out of those few he eventually managed to create a picture of the last day Heiji had likely been in Osaka, and through it, was gradually able to trace his steps.

The warehouse that they lead them to had been long abandoned and certainly appeared as such, the company that once worked out of it having long since gone under. Someone had bought it since then, but nobody ever really saw anyone coming in or out of it, save for on the rare occasion. Studying it from a safe distance, he narrowed his eyes, wondering if it was a piece of property owned by the Organization.

They most likely thought they had no reason to get rid of it, considering that the Organization proper thought Hattori Heiji was dead. It was just more proof that Absinthe hadn't informed the Organization at large of her discovery yet, and that it was something that she was working on in secret from them. Otherwise they would have long since destroyed the warehouse, making it look like some kind of accident. Likewise, he doubted that the Organization kept anything important here- it was probably purely a location that they had secured to make transactions.

Still the fact that they might own it meant that he couldn't enter it carelessly... narrowing his eyes, he glanced down at his soccer ball releasing belt, an idea slowly forming in his head. While a child fetching a wayward soccer ball in the warehouse district might seem a little out of place, it would hardly be improbable enough to raise any suspicions. It wasn't impossible that a child might be trying to kill some time while his parents worked, or had just wandered in to use all of the free space there.

Adjusting the power of his kick with his kick enhancing shoes and angling his shot, Conan quickly put his plan into action, releasing his soccer ball and kicking it through one of the windows on the upper floor. Upon hearing it crash through the window, Conan carefully listened for any signs that someone was inside- and not hearing anything, he carried on with the next phase of his plan.

"Excuse me!" Conan called out, standing in front of the locked door. Putting on an act of frowning and looking around him, as if he was figuring out that there was nobody around to bring his lost soccer ball out, he began looking for a way in to get it himself. Noticing that one of the lower windows seemed a little loose, he gave it a testing shake, carefully masking his grin as he realized that it opened up just enough from him to unlock it and slip inside.

"I'm just getting my soccer ball!" Conan called out, glancing around the darkened warehouse. Switching on his wristwatch flashlight, he immediately set to work scouting the place out. Judging from the dust, it really didn't seem like this place saw that much use in general. The warehouse itself, as he suspected, didn't appear that suspicious. It was also entirely possible that the Organization as a whole had abandoned it after someone had noticed them making transactions there- if that was it's only purpose, there wasn't much need to destroy it. Rather, destroying it might actually create the inverse effect of drawing more attention to it- especially, he thought, if someone like Hattori Heizo got himself involved.

Which he would have one way or another, had his son's corpse turned up there.

Coming to a halt, Conan narrowed his eyes, shining his wristwatch on a suspicious looking patch of floor. It was a bit hard to determine in the darkened warehouse, but if he didn't make a mistake... wasn't this blood?

Narrowing his eyes, he knelt down in front of it, carefully tracing a finger over it- as he suspected, it had long since dried. Without a doubt, this was the warehouse where Heiji had been attacked. Given the coating of dust that his finger picked up, it really seemed like it was entirely possible this place hadn't been used once since then. With Heiji's death having been confirmed by Absinthe, the other members would have no reason to check on it themselves, and they wouldn't find it all that strange if no reports of his death had been filed yet, given the fact that his supposed corpse was in such an out of the way place.

Getting to his feet, Conan narrowed his eyes, scouring the warehouse for any further traces of the detective of the west. Come to think of it, he wondered if he might have something to do with that lose window- it was possible that they had locked the warehouse back up once they left, thinking that the person inside was long dead. They would have no reason to suspect that the person they thought they had killed would come back to life, after all. Even in a world where there was no small amount of teenagers running around with strange powers, something like reviving from the dead still sounded absurd.

Finding nothing more other than his discarded soccer ball, Conan picked it up, tucking it underneath one arm. Heading back towards the window he'd come in from, he carefully gave it a look over, confirming his suspicions that it had been tampered with at some point. As there was nothing in the warehouse to steal, and no reason that anyone would likely think so, it must have been Heiji who had been the one to do it.

Two questions still plagued Conan's mind- when had Absinthe noticed that the person she thought she had killed wasn't dead? And how had she come to the conclusion that he was likely immortal?

No, there was actually a third question.

When had Heiji realized it?  
__________________________________________________________________

"By the way, Kazuha-chan, I've been wondering about this for awhile now, but why do you have two charms on your phone?" Pointing towards the charms in question as they dangled off the girl's phone, Ran frowned slightly. Considering they looked exactly the same, it had puzzled her a little every since they had met. At the very least, they didn't appear to be for separate things.

"Ah, this?" Holding up her phone a little so the charms could dangle freely off of them. "Actually, only one of them is mine. The other one is actually Heiji's." Heaving a sigh, she fingered the charm that she knew was not her own. "But the idiot didn't even think to take it with him when he ran off and disappeared, even though it's important!"

"Matching charms?" Ran asked, a small smile appearing on her face. "That's pretty cute, Kazuha-chan. What are they for?"

"Ah, well that's..." Her cheeks flushing a faint shade of red, Kazuha tucked her phone back away. "When we were little and fooling around, we accidentally ended up getting handcuffed to each other when we found an old pair. There wasn't any key to be found, so we ended up attached to each other like that for awhile until our parents were able to get them removed."

"There's pieces of those handcuffs in the charms. They're meant for good luck and protection." She explained. "I would always tell Heiji to remember to bring his with him, but he'd always forget it. Even now, he left it behind..." Trailing off a little, she let her deep rooted worry show briefly on her face, before she managed to shake it off, giving Ran a smile. "I thought that maybe if I kept it with me, it would send him some good luck still, wherever he is. Knowing that idiot, he probably needs it."

"You really do care about him, don't you?" Ran asked. "But I can't say that I don't know how you feel. I'm the same way with Shinichi."

"Honestly, high school detective are so much trouble." Kazuha heaved a sigh. "Well, with your father on the case, I'm sure he'll be found in no time!"

"I'm sure." Nodding her head, Ran gave her friend's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "What's the worst trouble he could have gotten himself into, after all?"

"Don't get me started." Kazuha couldn't help but grumble, a rather deadpan expression crossing her face. "Heiji's pretty much the king of getting himself in trouble. If you tell him not to do something, chances are he'll do that exact thing."

"Ahh..." Ran trailed off a little, a bit unsure of how to respond to that. Her attention, however, was quickly drawn away by something else, a slight frown crossing her face she picked up the sounds of a commotion. "Kazuha-chan, I think we should probably put a stop to that."

"Hm?" Glancing over towards where Ran pointed, Kazuha's eyes quickly narrowed, watching as a middle aged woman scrambled to pick up some papers while a young man who looked like he was in college appeared to be bothering her with his buddies. "Yeah. Let's go, Ran-chan."

"Excuse me there, you three!" Kazuha barked out, placing her hands on her hips as she stared straight up towards what appeared to be the ringleader's face. "How about instead of harassing this poor woman, you help her out? Does it feel good, picking on someone like that?"

"Hah? Who are you supposed to be?" The man that turned to look towards her might have been quite a bit larger than her, but Kazuha didn't even flinch- and neither did Ran, as she stepped up next to her friend.

"Just some girls passing by." Ran said simply, kneeling down with a small smile to help the woman take up the rest of her fallen papers. As she realized exactly what they were, a small surge of anger shot through her, and she quickly glared up towards the men, straightening herself up. "I'd advise you to move along."

"I don't remember taking orders from high school girls." The ringleader simply shrugged his shoulders, even as one of those with him took one look at Ran's face, and took a step back. "Huh? What's wrong with you, Moriyama?"

"Ah, no, it's just... isn't she that super strong girl from the news?" The one named Moriyama mumbled out, averting his eyes from Ran's sharp gaze. "I think we should probably get out of here."

"It's just some girl, it's nothing scary." The man seemed to scoff- until his expression quickly turned pale as Ran directed the burnt of her anger towards a nearby lamppost. Hitting it with a single punch, the metal lamppost bent in half, all but threatening to snap. Turning her attention back towards the trio of men, Ran smiled at them.

"As I said before, I'd advise you to _move along_." She repeated- and this time, the young men obliged as if they couldn't get out of there fast enough.

"Amazing, Ran-chan!" Kazuha grinned, patting her on the shoulder as Ran quickly adjusted the power setting on her limiter again. "That's our hero girl for you, _yo!_ "

"Now, Kazuha-chan, it's nothing like that." A slight red tint to her cheeks, she turned towards the slightly awestricken woman, offering her a hand. "Are you alright? Can you stand?"

"Yes, thank you." Taking her hand, the middle aged woman got to her feet, holding her papers close to her chest. "I was just trying to pass out flyers when those three... No, it's not important anymore." Shaking her head, she gave the two girls another grateful smile. "Thank you again, the both of you. If it's not too much trouble, could you each take one of these?" Plucking out two flyers from her stack, she handed one to Ran and Kazuha each.

"Sure, but what is it..." Kazuha trailed off as she took a look at the flyer herself, her eyes quickly narrowing as she shot a dirty look towards the direction the men had run off to. She should have given them a piece of her mind as well!

"I'm terribly sorry about your son, ma'am." Ran's voice was soft as she spoke, her gaze gentle. "I'm certain he'll show up before long."

"I can only hope so." The obviously worried mother said, and it was clear from the bags underneath her eyes that she probably had slept that much in the past two nights- not since her high school aged son never made it home from school that day. "If you've by any chance seen him..."

Shaking her head, Kazuha gave her a small frown. "I'm sorry, I haven't seen him before. But I'll keep looking for him, ma'am." Placing a hand on her shoulder, she gave her a reassuring smile. "My father's a police officer, so I'll pass this on to him as well. Have you contacted the police?"

"Yes, of course." Nodding her head, the woman's shoulders relaxed a little at Kazuha's offer. "But we haven't heard anything yet from any possible kidnappers, so I can't help but worry..."

Exchanging a brief look with each other, Kazuha and Ran's brows creased in thought. "Um, ma'am, is there any reason you think your son might have been taken by someone?" Ran asked. "My father's a private detective, so I could ask him to look into the matter as well. Ah, this is his card." She told her, neatly pulling out one of her father's business cards that she kept with her.

"Mouri Kogoro...? Ah!" The woman's eyes sparked brightly, holding the business card close to her chest as if it were a beckon of hope. "The Sleeping Kogoro! You're his daughter?"

"Yes. I'm Mouri Ran." Ran introduced herself. "This girl here is Toyama Kazuha. Can you tell us the details about the case, Ebihara-san?" She asked, pulling the woman's last name from the flyer of the missing boy.

"Yes, of course." The woman replied, allowing the pair to lead her to a nearby bench, where she slowly took a seat. It seemed as if she had been on her feet for quite awhile, passing out flyers. "I'm Ebihara Natsuko. I work in a bakery just up the street from here. My husband works at a nearby supermarket."

"My son, Kazufumi, didn't show up after school two days ago. When I called his friends from his baseball club, they told me that they didn't have any extra practice that afternoon, and they didn't know where he might have gone. Naturally, I called all of his other friends and even his teachers as well, but none of them had heard anything from him." Shaking her head, the woman clutched at the fabric of her pants, obviously trying to stay calm. "I can't think of any particular reason that anyone would want to kidnap my Kazufumi. We don't have that much money between us, and even if he plays baseball, if I have to be honest, he's pretty much a bench warmer."

"Does anyone hold a grudge against any of you?" Kazuha asked.

"No, I don't think so." Again the woman shook her head. "We're not that sort of folk. It's almost like my Kazufumi disappeared without a trace. The police traced his usual path home from school, but they said that they didn't find anything, and there were no strange calls to his phone when they recovered his phone logs."

"It's just..." She frowned a little, narrowing her eyes, almost uncertain as if she should say this. "When I looked some things up online this morning, I heard some disturbing rumors."

"Rumors?" Ran blinked. "About what?"

"That children who were listed as potential Powered have started to go missing."  
___________________________________________________________________

"Another missing persons report?" Megure barely glanced up at the file that Takagi passed off to him, so buried was he in the work he was already dealing with. Once the got a moment's pause, he carefully took it off of him, grimacing tightly as he read the name on the file, placing it on a list that he'd been given very good cause to memorize recently. "Another one from the potential list, it seems."

"Yes, sir." Nodding his head, Takagi's brows knitted together in worry. "That would make the fourth one in our district, sir. I've heard that there have been reports coming out of other districts about missing teenagers as well."

"So it would seem." Megure said, his voice grim. "This is quickly becoming a serious issue. Ah, that's right, has anyone informed Inspector Nakamori from the second division yet? I know his daughter is on that list as well."

"Yes, Chiba just left to do just that." Takagi said, motioning towards Chiba's currently empty desk. "Sato-san is at the home of the current missing student right now, interviewing the parents more thoroughly, and searching for any clues. She said she'll contact us right away when she's finished."

"We were too optimistic, Takagi-kun." Megure said simply, looking at the quartet of file folders on his desk, silently praying a fifth and sixth didn't join their numbers. "Clearly whoever it was who hacked into that database was planning on something like this from the very start- they just needed time to gather more information, it seems." Heaving a sigh, the portly Inspector leaned back in his chair, knowing that as soon as the media broke the story- and it would be soon, he suspected, that there would be an immediate fallout.

Paranoia and fear in the streets, not just in Tokyo, but everywhere in Japan, from the sounds of it.

Reaching into his desk, Megure pulled out a file folder that he had kept locked within it, placing it on top of the others. "It might be time to look back into this again, Takagi-kun."

"Kudo-kun's file, sir?" Takagi asked, glancing down at it with a slight frown. He knew that the portly detective had started looking into the matter when his favorite high school detective had vanished, seemingly without a trace. When he called to solve the karaoke box mystery, he'd shelved it for the moment, only to open it back up once he didn't appear to come home again. When Kudo Shinichi had shown up in person to solve a pair of mysteries for them not even a month ago, he'd shelved it again.

But it would appear it was time to take it back out again.

"Do you think he has something to do with this?" Takagi asked.

"It's very possible." Megure said with a frown, rising to his feet. "If there's something as big as this going on, I wouldn't be surprised to find him in the middle of it, neck deep in an investigation that's probably already gone much further than our own."  
___________________________________________________________

"This _can't_ be a coincidence, Shu."

Jodie looked more than a little frazzled as she poured over report after report- it almost seemed like they wouldn't end. "Sixteen people off of a list that consists of sixty nine people. All of them gone missing without so much of a trace, and not that long after two reported hacking incidents of the list's database. This has to somehow be her work."

"She's going fishing." Shuichi replied, and although his expression to the casual observer might look disinterested, Jodie knew that he was deep in thought, trying to connect the dots and put together the pieces of this puzzle. "After she struck gold with that Osakan boy, it's very likely that she's looking for others with hidden abilities that might be assets to her research."

"But isn't that a little too bold, even for the Organization?" Jodie asked, her eyes narrowing. She didn't doubt Shuichi's theory- it was more than likely the case, but to cause this many people to disappear this quickly- exactly how deep did Absinthe's roots go.

"It is bold." Shuichi observed, his eyebrows lifting slightly. "Perhaps someone provoked her. Or..." He trailed off, the slight narrowing of his eyes the only hint he gave to his changing thoughts. "She's trying to lure someone out."

"Lure?" Jodie asked- but it only took her a moment before she put the pieces together herself, jolting to her feet. "You can't possibly mean she's doing all this to drag Hattori-kun out?!"

"It's not impossible." Shuichi said simply. "Judging from what I saw of that boy the other day, it's entirely likely that if something like this came to his attention, he'd dig his nose in deeper without any hesitation. He certainly seems to be holding some kind of trauma from his time being imprisoned by that woman, but it's not enough to cause him to keep his nose out of things. Rather, it's probably the exact opposite with him."

"That's bad, Shu! He'll definitely bite if it's something as big as this! Besides that, we just can't sit by idly while teenager after teenager is kidnapped." Slamming her hands on her desk in frustration, Jodie turned on her heel, grabbing her jacket. "I'm going to speak with Hattori-kun right now. Maybe if I convince him to work together with us on this, he won't go off and recklessly act on his own. If his contact in Nagano hasn't contacted about this already, he'll probably have heard about it from someone else, somehow."

"Do you have any information on that Nagano contact?" Shuichi asked, slightly interested at the mention of it.

"No, he won't tell me anything. Whoever it is, he's really protective of them." Shaking her head, Jodie pulled on her jacket, quickly grabbing her things. "Tell the boss I've gone out if he comes back in, and that he can contact me by phone. Call me if anything else comes up, Shu."

With a promise that he would, Jodie hurriedly made her way out of the door, hoping that Heiji was still at her apartment. If he really had already caught wind of this, it was possible that he might already be looking into it himself.  
____________________________________________________________

"Dad?" Aoko blinked in confusion. She had just been about to open up the front door when her father had all but burst into the house, looking as if he was completely out of breath. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah, Aoko." Pausing to catch his breath, Nakamori Ginzo straightened up, doing his best to try and stay calm in front of his daughter. The moment that word had gotten to him about the connection between the four missing teenagers in the Tokyo district, he'd immediately called Aoko's cellphone- only to get an almost ominous message informing him all too cheerfully that the number he had dialed was out of service. "Is something wrong with your cellphone?"

"Yeah, Aoko thinks the battery died." Nodding her head, she pulled out the phone in question, showing how it wouldn't turn on. "It's even like this after Aoko plugs it in. Aoko was just about to head to the store to see if they could fix it."

"I see. It's broken, huh?" Almost heaving a sigh of relief, the Inspector leaned against the door. "Do you have the money for it in case you need it?" He asked, reaching into his wallet, getting ready to pull out some spare yen that he had on him.

"Don't worry, Aoko has plenty! She doesn't need any from her father right at the moment!" Aoko told him, tucking her phone back away. "But is everything alright? You look like you almost ran here from the police station."

He _had_ , actually. In retrospect, it would have made _so much more sense_ to use a car- but he actually just hadn't thought about it at the moment. He wasn't thinking about much other than Aoko's safety, really.

"Well, take some extra money to buy yourself something sweet." Ginzo told her, giving her a thousand yen bill. "You had been saying that you wanted to try out that new ice cream shop next to the station... the very busy, busy station. Why don't you get your phone fixed at the shop they have there?"

"Eh, but it's further away." Aoko blinked, before quickly perking up, smiling brightly at her father as she took the bill from him. "But alright! Aoko would never say no to sweets, after all!"

"That's good then. Well then," Straightening out his jacket a little, he smiled at her. "Your father should get back to work."

"Okay! It's the same time for dinner tonight, right? Kaito's coming over tonight as well." Aoko asked, quickly adding in the bit about Kaito as an afterthought. As she hummed a little to herself, stepping out the door as her father stepped aside.

"Ah, there's no changes to that." Ginzo told her. "And Aoko?"

"Hm?" Turning on her heel, Aoko turned on her heel slightly, looking back towards him. "What is it?"

Opening and then shutting his mouth again, Ginzo gave her a tight smile. "No, it's nothing. Just be careful. Watch out for cars."

"Yes!" With a bright smile on her face, Aoko adjusted the strap of her purse, before she headed out. "Don't forget to lock the door, dad!" Waving a hand towards him, she hummed a cheerful tune to herself as she made her way down the street, pausing to wave at the vendors on the shopping street as she passed by them. When she paused to say hello to a cute puppy, she thought she caught a flash of something out of the corner of her eye- but when she turned towards it, there was nothing.

Was it her imagination?

Maybe it was Kaito, planning on playing one of his pranks on her again. Making a small face, Aoko turned on her heel, marching forward with a certain resoluteness in her step. Well, if that was the case, she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction- not this time! Besides, she was still mad at him because of the other day anyways- he had called that book Akako had generously given to her about awakening your hidden powers silly!

She had, of course, completely missed the laughter that had been in Akako's eyes as she had handed over the book to her.

The resoluteness in her step faded however, when she quickly came to realize that those weren't Kaito's footsteps behind her. She'd known him long enough to know the sound of them, and she knew there was no way that the person who was following behind her was him. Feeling her heart start to pound in her chest, recalling her father's strange behavior from just earlier, she wondered if she should turn and look around at who it was. Were they really following her? Maybe they were just going the same way?

Another set of footsteps fell into step behind her, and she nearly leapt out of her skin when a hand was placed on her shoulder. The strong, firm grip of a man, she thought.

"Don't look behind ya. Yer bein' followed."

Oh? Didn't she know that voice from somewhere...? She certainly recognized the accent, at the very least. "A-Aoko is being followed?" She whispered, sparing a glance up towards the young man who had fallen into step with her. "Ah, you're..."

Flashing her a quick grin, Heiji did his best to look as reassuring as possible. "Just act natural fer the moment. We can lose him once we get around the corner up here."

"Got it." Fighting the urge to nod her head, Aoko tried to steady her pounding heart. To think that she would run into that young man from the other day like this. "B-but why is Aoko being followed?"

"I can't say fer sure." Heiji whispered, keeping his voice, grateful that the girl had thought to do the same. That was a lie, though, he had a good idea as to why this girl was being followed. As soon as he'd gotten word from his Nagano contact, he had quickly began investigating the matter- starting with getting a copy of that list himself. He had been pretty certain that Haibara girl had mentioned something about checking the list herself for his name, so he'd asked her for a copy of it.

When she had hesitated to give it to him, he almost didn't understand why- but things started to make more sense when he realized that his own name was nowhere to be found on it. He had always just assumed that his parents had tampered with the results card that they had gotten- he had never suspected that he wouldn't have been on the list at all.

Which didn't make any sense to him, but it was hardly the biggest thing to worry about right now.

One of the names on the list was one that he vaguely recognized, after all- and a few minutes of trying to think where he had heard it had lead him back to that day after the interview with that Shuichi guy. That girl who spoke in the third person and looked like the Neechan from the detective agency, the one he'd briefly met when she'd spoken to him out of concern.

Nakamori Aoko.

It was a good thing he had decided to investigate, he thought. Judging from the look of the guy behind him, he doubted he was involved with the Organization himself. More than likely, he was just someone who had been paid a good sum of money to kidnap a girl, no questions asked.

As they rounded the corner, Heiji took Aoko's hand, whispering to her to run. Startled into compliance, the pair took off down the street, quickly turning the next corner, going in a zig-zag pattern of corners after that. Only when he was certain that they had lost her pursuer, did they finally come to a halt. Letting go of her hand, Heiji watched as she caught her breath, clearly winded by the endeavor.

"Are ya alright?" Heiji asked, watching as the girl slowly nodded. He wasn't even winded himself- but whether it was just because that hadn't run that hard, or if it was just yet another mystery of his bizarre body, he didn't really know.

"Y-yes." Looking up at him, Aoko gave him a bright smile. "Thank you. You saved me! It was Heiji, wasn't it?"

"So ya remembered me." Heiji almost internally cringed, having forgotten that he'd given her his real name. That could come back to bite him in the ass, now that something like this had happened. "Sorry about that. I must have seemed pretty suspicious myself as well."

"No." Shaking her head, Aoko brushed some sweat off her forehead, looking around. She recognized where they were, and couldn't help but notice that they were actually quite near where she had planned to head in the first place. What an amazing coincidence. "Aoko was certain that you were trying to help."

"Fer the moment, ya should probably stay where there are a lot of people around." Heiji advised her, pointing with his head towards the crowded station up ahead. "An' call someone ya know ta walk ya back home. They might try an' come after ya again. Talk ta the police if ya can. Ah," He blinked then, giving her somewhat of a sheepish look. "But don't tell em my name, or anythin' about me if ya do. I'm kind of a runaway, I guess ya could say."

"Then, in that case, Aoko won't say anything!" Aoko quickly promised, before smiling and taking his hand again. "But in exchange, you have to let Aoko treat you a little! After all, you did help her!"

"Eh?" Blinking rapidly, as if having completely not expected this offer, Heiji quickly shook his head. "N-no, that's fine, Nakamori-han. Ya don't really need ta-"

"It's Aoko!" Aoko said, a bright smile on her face, tugging on his hand. "And Aoko won't let you say no either! Come on! There's supposed to be a really good ice cream place just up ahead! Do you like ice cream, Heiji-kun?"

"I don't dislike it..." Heiji trailed off, more than a little flabbergasted by this turn of events. He really wanted to insist that he had some really important things to get back to- and he did, this was a very pressing investigation- but somehow he got the feeling that she wasn't about to let him out of this.

Come to think of it though, he hadn't eaten anything since that morning.

And that was how he found himself in an ice cream parlor, eating ice cream with a girl he'd basically only just met. It was also how he found himself on the receiving end of a glower from a boy around his age who looked so much like Kudo, he had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't really him somehow.

"Aoko," Kaito said, jerking his attention towards her. "Who's this suspicious looking guy?"


	10. The Moon Sets in the West

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A phantom thief unexpectedly meets a detective, and it's not the thief who finds himself as the suspicious one of the two, as a hint to the location of a missing girl comes out into the light, and a woman calls in a detective of her very own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: With this, we've reached the tenth chapter of Powered! This is quite exciting, I'll be perfectly honest! Ten whole chapters! To celebrate, I'll be writing a special bonus chapter that'll be coming soon, that will serve as something of a flashback to a point earlier in the story, featuring something this chapter briefly brushes on. Look forward to it!

" _Who's_ a suspicious lookin' guy?" Glowering at the newcomer from underneath his hood, Heiji briefly couldn't help but wonder if Kudo had any idea that he had some kind of doppelganger running around. Upon further examination, it became apparent that this unknown teenager and Shinichi didn't look exactly alike- but they appeared similar enough to almost be a little too close for comfort.

"Who else would I be talking about other than you?" Folding his arms in front of his chest, Kaito cast a skeptical look towards the young man in front of him. There was only so much he could make out of his face with his hood raised the way it was- the fact that he was keeping it up when indoors was more than enough to be a little suspicious in his book. It only became all the more so after he'd gotten a phone call from Aoko's father asking him to meet up with Aoko at the new ice cream place by the station, a distinct note of considerable worry easy to make out in the Inspector's voice. "So, who are you supposed to be?"

"Geez, don't be so rude, Kaito!" Puffing out her cheeks, Aoko shot him a look. "He's not a suspicious person! He helped Aoko out, in fact! You should try being a bit nicer!"

"Is that so?" Blinking, Kaito frowned a little, glancing back towards the dark skinned young man sitting across from Aoko. It was true that Aoko might be a little bit naive at times, but she wasn't the type to be tricked by someone who actually meant her real harm, so if she was vouching for him, perhaps he'd been a little hasty. Even if he _did_ get the strong feeling from this person that they were attempting to deliberately hide their face. "In that case, I apologize. If you really did help out Aoko, I should probably thank you."

Still looking somewhat annoyed, Heiji nevertheless decided to try and put it behind him. Jodie was right, he was pretty suspicious if one knew nothing about his situation "It's alright, forget about it. I take it ya know him?" He asked, eyes flickering back towards Aoko.

"Yes!" Nodding her head, Aoko looked over towards Kaito, sliding over in the booth and patting the seat next to her, inviting him to take it. After a moment's thought, he seemed to take her up on the offer, sliding into the booth next to her. "This Kuroba Kaito. He's Aoko's childhood friend!"

"And?" Kaito asked, taking a seat across from the hooded boy, quirking a brow. He couldn't help but still be a little suspicious of the guy, even if he doubted he had any bad intentions towards Aoko. She was friendly enough to make friends with people who might be more than a little trouble, after all. "Do you have a name yourself?"

Especially as he noted the way that the young man paused before answering him, his lips twisting in a slight frown. "Heiji." He told him after a moment of consideration. "My name's Heiji."

"Got a last name?" Kaito asked, locking eyes with him. Blue, he noted to himself, carefully studying his features in a manner he usually reserved for assessing the faces he was going to steal for a heist. If something _did_ happen to Aoko, he wanted to memorize this guy's every feature.

Blue eyes with somewhat long eyelashes, dark skin, an Osakan accent. He looked somewhat around their own age, though it was possible he might be at least a little bit older than them- with his face partially obscured, it was hard to pinpoint his age exactly.

Taking a note of the way his eyes seemed to narrow from underneath his hood, Kaito couldn't help but feel more and more that his initial assessment of this guy might not be terribly off the mark. Finally, Heiji closed his eyes, deciding to give him an answer. "Takahara." He said simply, pulling the last name off of one of his other aliases. The fact that he'd unwittingly given his real first name out to the daughter of a police Inspector was bad enough, she didn't need his real last name too.

"And?" Kaito began, looking down towards Aoko, who was merrily making her way through the parfait she had bought for herself, briefly wondering where exactly she was putting all of that. "How did the two of you meet, exactly?"

"Aoko first met him the other day!" Aoko explained, pausing to wipe her mouth a little. As she thought, the ice cream at this place was great! "He didn't seem like he was doing very well, so Aoko called out to him. Ah, but speaking of that, Heiji-kun, are you really doing alright now? Back then you really didn't look all that great, so Aoko can't help but worry."

"Y-yeah." Slowly nodding his head, Heiji flashed her a small smile. "I'm fine, ya don't have ta worry about me, Aoko-han. It was just somethin' of a spell."

"If you say so..." Aoko frowned a little, before she quickly perked up. "But you did seem fine even after all that running, so maybe Aoko is just overthinking things."

"That's right." Heiji's grin growing somewhat, he gave a dismissive wave of his hand, all but brushing aside such concerns. "I'm as healthy as they come. Ya couldn't kill me if ya tried."

"What's this about running?" Kaito asked, almost feeling as if this suspicious frown of his was going to become a permanent part of his features from the way it hadn't left his face once in the past several minutes.

"Ah, well that's-" Aoko began, before being cut off by the sound of a cellphone ringing. The three occupants of the booth reached for their own phones in response, Aoko only stopping midway as she recalled that her own phone was broken at the moment.

"Ah, sorry, it's mine." Answering his phone, Heiji got to his feet, stepping a little bit away from the booth. "What's up?"

Watching him with a careful eye, Kaito couldn't miss the way that the young man seemed to start from whatever it was the person on the other end of the line had said. Being a thief had given him rather good ears, so even though Heiji had quickly dropped his voice to a whisper upon answering the phone, he could still somewhat make out what he was saying.

"What do ya mean, yer _here?_ Ya could have still found a way to bring me that information less directly, right? Even if it _is_ important." Half glowering into his phone, Heiji heaved a slight sigh, rubbing his forehead. "Alright, alright, I got it. If ya've already come this far, I'll come meet ya. Are ya certain nobody noticed ya doin' any of this? That guy ya work with seems pretty sharp, ya know."

Now that was a suspicious sounding conversation if Kaito had ever heard one. As Heiji hung up his phone, the magician quickly slipped on his poker face, acting as if he hadn't overheard anything strange.

"Sorry, that was a... friend of mine." Heiji said after a moment, quickly tucking his cellphone back away. "I have ta get goin', they turned up in town suddenly, so I have ta go meet them."

"Well, that can't be helped then." Aoko said, giving him a small frown. "Then, take care of yourself, Heiji-kun. And thank you for helping Aoko today! You really saved her!"

"Like I said, don't worry about it." Heiji told her, giving her a small smile, before casting a slight glower in Kaito's direction. He really didn't like that guy, he decided- though perhaps if they'd met under different circumstances, his impression of him might be entirely different. His gaze quickly flickered back to Aoko, however. "But don't forget what I said. Ya should probably have this guy accompany ya home. Be careful, Aoko-han."

Waving a hand, Heiji quickly made his way out of the ice cream shop. Kaito had half a mind to follow him- but he was honestly more concerned about what he'd said to Aoko, turning to look at her. "What did he mean by accompany you home, Aoko? Did you get into some kind of trouble."

"Ah, about that!" Aoko nodded her head, her eyes going wide. She hadn't exactly forgotten, but now that she was safe and sound, it was a little surreal to think back on what she had just experienced. "Someone was following Aoko today!"

"Following?" Realizing that he'd leaned in a bit closer to her than he had intended, Kaito slinked back somewhat, trying to quickly make up for the slip in his poker face. If his childhood friend had told him that someone had been following her, it was only natural that even he, the great Kaito Kid, would flinch more than just a little. "Who?"

"Aoko doesn't know." Aoko said, shaking her head. "But Aoko noticed that someone following behind her ever since the shopping street near her house. At first she thought it was you, Kaito, but those weren't footsteps at all! After she realized this, Aoko got really worried... and that's when Heiji-kun showed up and helped me get away from him!"

Narrowing his eyes a little at that explanation, Kaito couldn't help but find it somewhat strange. So some random guy that Aoko had only met once before had noticed someone seemed to be following her, and had decided to help her out? That would be nice if it were the truth, but something about it didn't add up. In the first place, how had he been able to notice that someone was following her anyways?

And he was pretty certain that 'Takahara' wasn't his real last name. The way he tried to hide his face bothered him too, as well as that suspicious sounding phone call. He didn't quite get the impression from him that he was a bad person, but he certainly seemed to be involved in _something._

Either way, if it was true that Aoko was being followed by someone, that was more than a little worrisome. His first instinct was to think that it might be related to those guys somehow- the ones who periodically showed up at his heists to make trouble, the ones who had killed his father and were searching for the mysterious legendary stone, Pandora. But somehow he didn't feel as if that were quite right. Recalling the worried phone call he'd gotten from Inspector Nakamori telling him to meet him here in the first place, Kaito's mind then drifted to an early conversation he'd had with the Inspector- something about another hacking attempt on the database containing _that_ list.

Was this related to that?

"If that's true, we should probably go to the police after you finish your parfait, Aoko." Kaito said after a moment, an expression on her face that was designed to keep her from starting to worry.

"But Aoko still needs to get her cellphone fixed." Aoko said after a moment, glancing down towards her purse. "Well, Aoko's worried too, though... Do you think it's because of dad's work?"

"It's not impossible." Kaito said after a moment, giving her a small nod. The last thing he wanted was for Aoko to panic. As long as they were around other people, they'd probably be fine- he'd keep a sharp ear and an even sharper eye out for anyone making any suspicious moves towards her. Like hell anyone was going to do anything to Aoko under his watch. Besides, if someone really had been following her, then it was _probably_ a good idea if her cellphone actually _worked_. "Then, let's go to the station after you get your cellphone fixed. What's wrong with it anyways?"

"Ah, well about that..."  
_________________________________________________________________

"Ah, Inspector Megure. I'm hoping this isn't a bad time."

At the sound of the voice on the other end of the line, Megure couldn't help but start. He had, after all, just been talking about the young man that it belonged to with Takagi only a short while ago. Glancing down at the file folder that was still placed on his desk, Megure suddenly realized he hadn't given the young man in question a response, and quickly cleared his throat.

"Ah, Kudo-kun, it's been awhile." Megure said, more than a little surprised by the timing of the call. Narrowing his eyes, he diverted his attention towards the other case files on his desk, photos of the four missing teenagers staring back at him. Given the timing, he couldn't help but wonder if it had some sort of connection to this case after all. "Why the sudden phone call? Has something come up?"

"You could say it's something like that." The Inspector of course had no way of knowing that the voice he heard on the other end of the phone was coming not from a high school student, but rather a child. On the other end of the line, Conan double checked his surroundings, making sure that he was well and truly alone, where nobody could overhear him. After checking out the warehouse, he'd spent more time scouring around Osaka, talking to people who had known Heiji when he had lived here, when a thought had struck in his mind.

"I need you to search for some case files for me, actually, if it's at all possible." Conan told him, suddenly finding himself very grateful for the ability that he had deemed useless before he had shrunken down into this childlike body. It was strange that he needed his own ability to use his own true voice, though.

"Certainly, Kudo-kun." Megure nodded his head. "You've helped us countless times in the past, so I would be more than happy to assist you now. What is that you need me to look up for you?"

"Any incidents involving John Does from the past six months or so." Conan, using Shinichi's voice, told him. "If you could work to pull any such reports from other Prefectures as well, that would be a huge help to me, Inspector. Especially if the John Doe in question is a young man."

"A young man?" Blinking, Megure gave a small frown. "I don't have any issues with that, Kudo-kun, but might I ask as to why? Are you searching for a missing person, perhaps?"

"Ah, yes, something like that." Conan told him. He didn't want to get the portly Inspector too deeply involved in this, but he didn't have any way of searching the police records himself at the moment. "If you could leave the files in question in the care of the Professor Agasa, I'll be able to come pick them up myself."

"With the Professor?" Megure asked, recalling the portly Professor in question. The old man had developed a habit of sometimes helping the police solve cases as well, come to think of it. Was it possible that Shinichi was working alongside him in regards to whatever case it was that had pulled him so far away from home? "That's fine by me, Kudo-kun. I'll see to it that any files matching that description find their way towards you."

"Thanks, Inspector! That's really a big help to me!" With a smile on his face, Conan was certain that Megure would follow through on his words, and that he'd find those case files waiting for him when he returned from Osaka on Monday morning. There was a distinct possibility that during his travels, Heiji might have shown up somewhere on the police record as some kind of John Doe- especially before he had joined up with Jodie and the FBI around a month ago.

It was worth checking out, at the very least.

Really, he had wanted to specify to the Inspector that he was _specifically_ interested in cases that involved a corpse suddenly going missing, but he felt that might be getting a little bit _too_ specific, and he didn't want to show his hand that easily. So he'd settle on a more general sweep of the police records- who knew, that might turn up something in it's own right.

"Ah, that's right, Kudo-kun," Megure began, glancing back down at the files in front of him. "Have you by any chance caught wind of the current matter?"

"Current matter?" Blinking, Conan couldn't help but frown, recognizing that grave tone in the Inspector's voice to mean nothing good. "No, I don't think I have. Could you be a bit more specific, Inspector Megure?"

"In our district alone, four teenagers have gone missing over the past three days. Ones right around your age, in fact." As he spoke, Megure's tone grew all the more serious still. "All four missing teenagers had tested positive for having the potential to develop abilities, and it's not just happening in our district as well. All told, at least sixteen-" The man paused, recalling the current count. "No, it's seventeen people now who have gone missing at the moment. Each and every one of them had their names on that list."

"The same list that two separate hacking attempts were made on this month. Something serious is going on here, Kudo-kun." Megure told him, his brows knitting together in deep thought. "If we don't do something about this soon, it's entirely possible that all of them could disappear."

Conan couldn't help but feel his blood run cold, his grip on his cellphone tightening. Swallowing a little, having to increase his focus to keep his voice from switching back to Conan's, he managed to keep a hold on Shinichi's voice. "What other Prefectures are reporting missing people?"

"In addition to our own, there's also reports coming out from Shizuoka, Nagano, Gunma, Kyoto, and Osaka." Megure told him. "At the current moment, I'm afraid that we have very little information to go on."

"Can you leave copies of the case files in question with the rest, Inspector?" Conan asked, trying to not let his tone betray him. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what was going on here, and it wasn't one that he liked. Suddenly he didn't like the idea of being in Osaka, so far away from his hometown, so far away from his home turf- and unable to see what it was that his fellow high school detective was doing. He had very little doubt that this information would have made it's way to Heiji by now, and he could only hope that he wasn't doing something foolish.

This smelled strongly of an attempt to draw him out- as well as something else. If Absinthe could reach her claws out all the way towards Russia, there was no doubt in Conan's mind that she could manage to kidnap teenagers living within Japan itself, even quite a large number of them. It was a bold move, and if the rest of the Organization wasn't paying attention to her actions before, there was no doubt they'd be wondering what she was up to now.

And that wasn't good.

"I'll do what I can to help." He finally finished, realizing that he'd left the Inspector hanging. "And Inspector?"

"What is it, Kudo-kun?" Megure asked, somewhat unnerved by the grave tone that the high school detective's voice carried with it.

"Be careful."  
_________________________________________________________

"Oh, if it isn't Kazuha-chan. What brings you to the station today? I had heard that you were entertaining some friends from out of town this weekend."

Somewhat taken by surprised by the tall woman who had suddenly called out to her new friend, Ran quickly realized that she had been gaping, and just as quickly shut her mouth. It wasn't ever day that she ran into a woman who towered over her as much as this one did- and even though she had a very friendly look on her face, she couldn't help but be more than just a little but intimidated. She must have been over six feet tall!

"Ah, Kurosawa-san!" Kazuha couldn't help but beam at the woman. Realizing that this was someone she obviously knew and trusted, Ran felt herself growing more at ease. "Actually, I was hoping to speak with my father. Is he in?"

"No, he's out on a case right now." The woman shook her head, giving her something of an apologetic look. "But I can pass something on to him if it's important."

"Actually, it's about this," Reaching into her purse, she pulled out the flyer, passing it over towards the woman. "We met the mother of this boy this afternoon, passing out flyers for her missing son. I wanted to ask if he could maybe find some time to look into it. I know he's a homicide officer, but..."

"I'll pass it on to him." Tucking the flyer away, the woman case a look towards Ran, giving her a curious look. "Who is this, by the way? The friend in question from earlier?"

"Ah, yes!" Nodding her head, Kazuha took a step back, placing a hand on Ran's shoulder. "This is my friend, Mouri Ran. Ran-chan, this is one of my father's subordinates, Kurosawa Ayame. She's a homicide detective."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kurosawa-san." Bowing her head a little, Ran gave the tall woman a smile. Now that she got to talking to her a little, she really wasn't all that scary, and she couldn't help but feel a little bad about her first impression.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Mouri-san." Ayame told her, brushing a stray black hair out of her face. She kept her hair short, cut off just past the ears, and had dark brown eyes that a slight spark of recognition seemed to pass through. "If I'm not mistaken, aren't you the girl from the news report awhile back? That Powered girl who stopped the runaway bus."

"Ah, yes." Nodding her head, Ran couldn't help but be a little more flustered that he reputation had spread all the way out here. "I am."

"That was amazing, you know!" Ayame told her, a bright smile on the woman's face as she spoke. "Not many people could just jump in like you did, even if they did have super strength. You should be proud of yourself."

"Ah, no, it was really nothing." Ran said, feeling her cheeks heat up as she spoke. "I didn't even really think all that much about it, honestly, my body just acted on it's own."

"That's all the more impressive, isn't it?" Ayame asked, but thankfully seemed to sense that she was flustering the much younger girl, and seemed to decide to change the topic, turning back towards Kazuha. "At any rate, Kazuha-chan, I'll pass the flyer on to your father when he comes back, so you should just enjoy showing your friend here around Osaka."

"Thank you, Kurosawa-san!" Beaming at her, Kazuha reached out to take Ran's hand. "Let's go, Ran-chan. There's still a few things that I want to show you, especially since you have to go back tomorrow!"

"Okay, Kazuha-chan!" Nodding her head, Ran briefly turned to look back at Ayame, giving her a small nod. "It was nice to meet you, Kurosawa-san."  
_______________________________________________________

More or less at her wit's end, Jodie Starling found herself taking a short break on a park bench, letting out a deep breath. She'd hurried back to her apartment only to find that Heiji was nowhere to be found. For a brief moment, she'd almost been worried that he might have jumped town, but judging from the fact that he'd left behind what few possessions he owned, she didn't think that was the case. Still, she couldn't help but be worried about him, especially because it seemed as if he'd switched his cellphone off.

Hattori Heiji was almost more trouble than he was worth sometimes, she couldn't help but think.

She knew full well that running around Beika in a panic wasn't going to do her any favors- if anything it might draw undue attention towards her, something that she didn't want. It wasn't as if she could ask people if they'd seen the Osakan detective either, for that very same reason. For all intents and purposes, the two of them needed to seem as unrelated to each other as they possibly could.

Really, she wished that she could allow him to live openly. He should have been living openly, back in his hometown of Osaka, rather than running around and spending his time hiding from the nefarious woman that wanted him, and the equally nefarious Organization that she belonged to. It was part of why she'd tried to convince him to join the Witness Protection Program in the first place- he would have to take on a new identity and leave his homeland behind him, but at the very least he could live freely the way he wanted when he got there. His English certainly was more than good enough to allow him to live in America without any issues, she thought.

She could only hope that at the end of all this, returning to a normal life was something that would be possible for him. It wasn't just the Organization who were interested in unlocking the secrets of immortality- she'd heard whispers of other groups operating within Japan who desired very much the same thing. If they managed to catch wind of the immortal teenager in question, they probably would stop at nothing to get their hands on him.

As would the world at large, Jodie grimly thought to herself, getting to her feet. He'd be deemed as a medical miracle, and in the same breath, he'd probably be viewed as something less than human by the same people. It would have been nothing new, really- although by and large society had come to accept the existence of the children known as the Powered, there were still those among them who thought that they needed to have tighter controls placed on them, who frowned at the idea of people with such abilities being able to live freely.

People like that disgusted her- and she knew that they disgusted Shuichi all the more so. He'd mentioned something once about having a little sister who had an ability of her own- although quite frankly, Jodie didn't know anything more beyond that. When it came to his private life, her coworker had always been incredibly secretive of it, keeping such things close to his vest. Perhaps it was simply in his nature. He'd had to leave them all behind in order to infiltrate _them_ in the first place, as much as that had turned out to be a bust in the end.

But she supposed that she wasn't really one to talk, in the end. As much as she wanted to do everything in her power to protect him now, the first time they'd met, she'd been so startled by him that she'd accidentally shot him. In the end, it was something that the cheerful Osakan boy had managed to laugh off, treating it like it was no big deal. He couldn't really blame her, he'd said, anyone would have been surprised.

He had, after all, revived before his body had finished completely regenerating. Her first impression of him hadn't been that of a troublesome but cheerful high school detective, but rather something that wouldn't have been entirely out of place within a horror movie. It'd have probably gone over a lot worse if his response to being shot in the head, wasn't to crack a joke about her likely being able to survive quite well in a zombie movie, now that she thought about it.

It was only then that the FBI agent realized that she wasn't dealing with some kind of monster, but rather a perfectly sensible human being- if not one who was capable of carrying out a conversation with her while having a bullet hole in his head. The fact that it was something he could actively joke about spoke in ways that he wouldn't that he'd already been through far worse.

Whoever it was from Nagano that he all but seemed to implicitly trust must have known his secret, and they must have had a _considerably_ different reaction to it than her own, she couldn't help but think. It really was a testament to his trusting and honest nature that Heiji was able to trust her after that incident in the first place.

He was a good kid, she thought to herself- even if he could also be a tremendous pain in the ass at times. Like, for example, _right now_. Honestly, where had he gone?

"Well if it isn't Jodie-sensei!"

At the sound of the voice that called out to her, Jodie momentarily froze. Drawing in a breath, she prepared to face the person behind her with a bright smile on her face, not alluding to the fact that she had long since seen through their disguise. "Araide-sensei!" Calling out the name that she knew didn't actually belong to the person she was using it for, Jodie turned around, a look of pleasant surprise on her face. "Fancy running into you here! Did you come for a walk in the park?"

"It's a rather nice day out, I thought I would get some fresh air." The person posing as Tomoaki Araide gave her a smile, not betraying the fact that they'd long since determined the woman in question was an FBI agent. "What about yourself, Jodie-sensei?"

"I was on my way to run an errand, actually!" Jodie told him, keeping her bright smile on her face. "It is a very nice day out though, isn't it? But before long, I imagine it will become quite hot out!"

"It's best to enjoy this kind of weather while it lasts." Inclining his head, Araide didn't let the pleasant smile on their face slip. Running into Jodie had been a complete coincidence, but they'd never pass up a chance to fish for information. "Would you care for some company on your errand perhaps? I would be more than happy to carry any bags that you might have, sensei."

"Ah, no, that's quite fine!" Shaking her head, Jodie carefully assessed the person in front of her, hiding it behind a mask of pleasantries. There was no way that she could allow them to go anywhere near her apartment, after all. "But thank you kindly for your offer, Araide-sensei."

"Oh no, it's no trouble at all." Shaking his head, Araide assessed that he was about to overstay his welcome here, and decided it was best to make an exit for the time being. "Well in that case, I won't hold you up any longer. I'll see you at school on Monday, I suppose."

"Yes, I'll see you then." Nodding her head, Jodie watched as the man made his way into the park. She half wanted to watch him until he had completely vanished, but she knew that doing so would only arouse his suspicions, so she forced herself to turn on her heel and head down the street, relying on her instincts to tell her that she wasn't being followed. Thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case.

Breathing slightly easier once she realized this, Jodie felt her shoulders slump. She always found herself growing slightly tense when that woman was around, however skilled she was in masking this. It was to be expected, perhaps.

But they wouldn't fail to catch her this time. Whatever new troubles Absinthe was determined to bring with her to this investigation, Jodie had vowed not to lose sight of her original goal, one that had her leaving behind her own homeland in pursuit of- to see to it that Vermouth would face the justice that she so rightly deserved.  
__________________________________________________________

Finding the hotel that his contact had indicated hadn't been very difficult. As Heiji made his way into Beika Hotel, having already gotten the room number ahead of time, he made his way straight to the elevator. Still grumbling to himself about the fact that they had come out all this way in person, he had to begrudgingly admit that they did have a point- it wasn't as if he had a permanent address that they could send things to. After all, it wasn't like he could ask them to send things like documents to Jodie's apartment- but he still would have preferred going to meet them as opposed to them coming here to meet him.

Ducking into an elevator, Heiji made his way up to the eighth floor, carefully keeping tabs on his surroundings to make sure that nobody was watching him. Nobody had stepped off the elevator with him, which was good, he thought to himself as he made his way towards the room where he was supposed to meet that person.

Knocking on the door, Heiji stepped back slightly, tucking his hands into his pockets. Hearing the sound of a lock opening up, he glanced around again, making sure that the hallway was still empty. When the door swung open, and the person within invited him inside, he finally let out a breath, pulling down his hood.

"Geez, ya really didn't have ta come out all this way." Grumbling to himself, Heiji made his way further into the hotel room, looking around it. Making himself at home in the only chair, he spun it around so that he was looking up towards them, giving the person a small smile in spite of his words. "Well, I guess I am glad ta see ya after all this time. How are things back in Nagano, Torada-han?"

"I've told you before, Hattori-kun, it's _Uehara_ now." The woman in front of him told him, the hint of a smile in her face betraying the note of frustration in her voice. "You were still there when I went back to my maiden name, so I'm not sure why it's so had for you to remember."

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Rubbing the back of his head, Heiji gave her a sheepish look. "So, how are things back in Nagano, Uehara-han? Are ya sure that partner of yers didn't notice anythin' when ya left? That guy's really no pushover." He noted, recalling the several close calls he'd nearly had back in Nagano all because of that one guy.

"Kan-chan didn't notice anything. I told him I was coming to Beika to meet up with a friend of mine from college." Yui told him simply. "Well, that's not entirely a lie, after all. I did arrange a meeting with her, since it's been awhile. But I really am glad to see you still in one piece, Hattori-kun. After I heard about that explosion in Gunma, I couldn't help but be worried."

"Ya don't have ta worry about me." Flashing her a wide grin, Heiji pushed the chair back a bit. "I won't die even if ya kill me, ya know that much. Anyways, what was it that was so important that ya had ta come give me yerself? Ya already told me all about the kidnapped potential Powered, I don't think there's anythin' about that that ya can't discuss with me over the phone."

A serious look crossed Yui's face then, as she quickly pulled out her suitcase from underneath the bed, removing a single, slim folder from it, which she then passed over towards him. "For the moment we're keeping this matter tightly under wraps, so getting a copy of this wasn't easy. Someone spotted her."

Instantly realizing who 'her' was, Heiji opened up the folder in his hands. "When?" He asked, glancing down at the photograph in question. The person in question obviously wasn't the main focus of the picture itself- in fact she could only just barely be made out in the background of the image.

A young girl his own age with dark brown curls, being escorted into a vehicle with tinted windows. Without a doubt, she was the missing Saint of Russia.

And close behind her was a woman that Heiji recognized all too well, traces of the burn scar that took up half her face peeking out from underneath her hair.

_Absinthe._

"Three days ago." Yui reported. "The photograph was taken in a small town in the Nagano Prefecture. Someone happened to be there taking a photo shoot by coincidence, and noticed it when they were developing the film. Luckily they came to the police with it right away, and we were able to obtain both the photograph itself and all negatives. We've also convinced them to keep their silence on this issue."

"I can give you the address of the location the photograph was taken, but I'd advise you to wait a little bit before you go check it out yourself, Hattori-kun. We're still in the middle of investigating it ourselves." Yui told him, giving him a small smile. "Kan-chan's right in the middle of it. Really though, I don't see why you don't want to trust him. I've known Kan-chan since childhood after all, he would be a good ally to have at your back."

"Even if ya say that..." Heiji frowned a little, rubbing the back of his neck. "He's got a face that's hard ta trust."

"Well, I can't really argue with that." Yui noted, letting out a small chuckle, before a far more stern expression crossed her face. "But I'm giving you this information in good faith, Hattori-kun. Please don't rush off and get yourself captured like you did last time."

Grimacing a little as she brought that up, Heiji got to his feet, taking the photo from the folder and carefully tucking it away inside of his hoodie. "I got it, ya don't have ta lecture me. I'm in no hurry ta get captured again either, once was _more_ than enough. Is there anythin' else?"

"No, that's all we know at the current moment." Yui told him frankly, shaking her head. "If we learn anything else, I'll contact you again. Do be careful out there."

"I should say the same thing ta you all the more so." Heiji told her as he pulled his hood back up. "Honestly. Fer someone who can't die, I sure have an awful lot of people worried about me. Do I really seem that reckless?"

"Yes." Her reply was instant and direct, leaving no room for an argument. "I'm giving you fair warning, Hattori-kun. If I lose contact with you again, I'm going to go straight to Kan-chan and tell him everything, and the two of us will find you again."

"Well, in that case, if I do get captured again, I'll be countin' on ya." Heiji flashed her a grin, half grateful that his hood was already pulled up. Honestly, as much as he liked to insist that he would have found a way to escape from that place even without the FBI getting themselves involved, he honestly didn't know where he would be right now if they hadn't. It was entirely possible that he might still be in that place, and with nobody who knew where he was, in that place he might have remained for a long, long time.

So needless to say, he really had no intention of getting captured again.

"Well then, Uehara-han. Enjoy yer visit with yer friend." Giving the woman a mock salute, Heiji made his way out of her hotel room, briefly checking to make sure there was nobody in the hallway as he left. Suddenly he was itching for Kudo to come back from Osaka already- he had a feeling that this was something that the shrunken detective would very much be interested in investigating with him.  
___________________________________________________________

The press conference playing on the television in the background did not do much to distract Vermouth from the phone call. As she half listened to one of the superintendents of the Tokyo MPD explain the current situation to a flurry of reporters, she devoted most of her attention still to the voice of the man on the other end of the line.

Honestly, she didn't expect her provocation of Absinthe to result in something like this. But that woman had always been bold, she supposed. Really, she should have expected something like this to happen- especially if her half held hunch were really true.

"This is too bold, even for her." The man on the other end of the line argued, and she couldn't help but raise a slight brow at the annoyance in his tone. "Even if she's not leaving any clues behind, this is quickly turning into a media circus."

"She said she was doing some very important research." Vermouth said simply. "So important that I could only scratch the surface of what she was up to when I infiltrated her lab's computer systems. But I learned enough to know that she's dealing with something very interesting, and something that's quite related to the Organization as a whole."

"And that's why you called me." The man on the other end of the line said. "Very well, Vermouth. I'll head over that way. It's in our vested interest that she doesn't draw in more attention than she already has without us even having an idea of what she's researching."

"As reliable as always." Vermouth observed, blowing smoke out of her cigarette, choosing not to mention that she had a very good idea of what it was indeed that the woman was researching. "I'm counting on you." reaching out to put out her cigarette, Vermouth rose to her feet, striding over towards the television, switching it off. "I'm looking forward to hearing good results," She began, a hint of an amused smile dancing on her lips.

" _Bourbon._ "


	11. BONUS Chapter: Headshot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One month prior to the start of the story, a certain lab is blown up, and a certain FBI investigator comes across a certain definitely not dead high school detective.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here's the promised bonus chapter! The next update for this story will be a regular chapter, but in the meantime, enjoy this flashback involving Jodie and Heiji! It's obviously shorter than a regular chapter would be, but still pretty lengthy in it's own right?

If one ever wanted to know what it felt like to revive from the dead, it was very much akin to taking your first breath of air after having been underwater for a long time.

Letting out a gasp of breath, Hattori Heiji felt his eyes fly open, for a moment, nothing but bright lights filling them. His head still swimming, throbbing with a dull pain, he slowly tried to gather his thoughts, attempting to place where he was and how he might have gotten here in the first place. Racking his brain for his last memory from before he'd blacked out, the distinct sound of alarm bells filled his ears- and it took him a moment to realize that these were simply in his head, an echo of his memories, and that they weren't actively ringing around him.

This _wasn't_ Absinthe's lab, he quickly came to realize, though the bright lights that filled his vision were very much the same. Racking his brain, trying to think of how it was that he might have gotten out of there, Heiji carefully cast a glance around him, silently checking the room he'd found himself in for any traces of other people.

Grimly, he noted that the only other occupants of the room were corpses. Swiftly realizing where it was he must have been, he swore underneath his breath, quickly pushing himself up off the cold steel table he had been placed on. His vision was still blurry in one eye- that probably wasn't a good sign. Placing a hand over it, he glanced around the room, taking note of the other four bodies that lay on tables beside him, all burnt beyond recognition.

So he'd died again. Fun.

Swinging his feet off the table, he let out a slight yelp as he stumbled, barely managing to catch himself on the edge of the table. Heaving a slight sigh, he pulled himself up, trying to steady himself. Glancing down at the hand he'd used to prop himself up, he grimaced, realizing that he'd apparently managed to revive before he'd completely finished regenerating this time- portions of his arm were still charred beyond recognition, and a quick check of his body not only told him he was almost unsurprisingly _completely naked_ , but it seemed that the entire upper right half of his body was still playing catch up with the rest of it- not only was his arm still severely burned, but portions of his chest and face on that side were as well.

That _probably_ explained why he couldn't see that well out of his right eye, he thought to himself.

Well, wherever he was, he obviously couldn't _stay_ here. He was grateful for being pulled out of Absinthe's lab, even if it had been as a corpse, but who knew where he'd found himself now. And furthermore, who knew what the people here would do to him if they realized that one of the corpses they'd brought in had apparently come back to life.

He would never understand why some people would spend all of their lives looking for the secrets to immortality, for some method in which to make themselves immortal- he _was_ one, and he could tell anyone that it wasn't anything like what it was cracked up to be. As far as he could tell, there wasn't a single benefit to it. It was what had gotten him into this entire mess in the first place, and because of it, he couldn't go home, much less live freely and openly as he pleased.

Five months he'd spent both hiding from and investigating her- five months that had gone down the drain when a careless slip up allowed her to finally sink her claws into him. A slight shudder running down his spine, Heiji forced away the memories he wasn't ready to deal with just yet, so he could concentrate on getting out of wherever the hell it was he was.

Some small amount of luck was with him, as he at the very least, managed to find a change of clothes. Not questioning nor caring who they belonged to or how they had gotten there, he quickly pulled them on, wincing a little as they scratched against the burnt skin of his upper right half. Managing to secure a cap, he tucked it over his head, before making the mistake of looking in a mirror.

He'd _definitely_ had better days.

"All I need now are the stock villagers with their pitchforks an' torches." Heiji dryly observed, his voice cracking a little as he spoke. He hadn't had many chances to talk in the past... how long had he been in there anyways? What day even was it? Come to think of it, he had no idea. He'd all but lost his sense of time while in that hell, but at the very least, he didn't think it had been longer than a month.

_Probably._

Well, whatever. Leaving was more important. Since he hadn't been strapped down, he assumed that he was no longer in Absinthe's clutches, and whoever had him now had no idea that one of the corpses they'd dragged here would come back to life- and he had every intention of keeping it that way. As luck would have it, there were no security cameras in this room, but there probably would be once he got out into the hall.

It would work out, probably. Glancing around the room for something he could use, he spotted what looked like a broom- snapping off part of the handle over his leg, he tossed aside the actual sweeping part, tapping the remaining handle over his shoulder. It would do. It wasn't like their bullets could do all that much to him even if whoever he was dealing with here shot him.

Well, they'd still _hurt_. But he'd get better. He could only hope that none of them got lodged within his body- he'd already had to deal with that once before, and that was enough for him.

Pressing his good ear against the door, Heiji attempted to listen for sounds of anyone out in the hall. Determining that he didn't hear anyone, he nodded to himself, giving the door to the room he was in a testing jiggle- to find it thankfully, unlocked. Swinging it open, he headed out into the hall, hoping for the best.  
__________________________________________________________________

The day had not gone according to plan for Jodie Starling.

Not only had her mark this time escaped from her grasp, but she'd also blown up her entire research lab, leaving nothing behind but five charred, unrecognizable corpses for them to clean up, and no new information to shed any light on the Black Organization. With any luck the woman herself, who went by the codename Absinthe, was among the dead, but they had no way of determining that- most of them were so badly burnt that they couldn't even discern their gender, much less who they had been in life.

It was a complete failure. There was no other way she could describe this.

Heaving a sigh, she took a sip of her coffee, deciding to try and take a small moment to relax before she dove back into the endless amounts of paperwork that she had created for herself. When you joined the FBI, the one thing that nobody told you about was the paperwork. There was so much of it, it was half a wonder that she ever managed to get anything done.

Turning her attention towards the security monitors, having shooed the guards they'd placed to watch them out of the room since this was the only place she knew to get a little privacy, Jodie took note of the fact that everything more or less seemed to be in order. Her boss had contacted her to let her know that he would be arriving later that afternoon, and to make do as best she could before he got here.

Who even knew where Shu was.

As she took another sip of coffee, Jodie paused, her eyes narrowing, detecting something that was decidedly out of the ordinary. Making out a figure on one of the monitors that _definitely_ didn't belong there, she quickly rose to her feet, setting aside her coffee. Was there honestly someone trying to sneak into a complex controlled by the FBI? They were either bold or stupid- or both.

Grabbing her gun, she quickly made her way out of the security room, having made a mental note of what floor the intruder was on and in which direction they were heading. Hoping on to the nearest elevator, she made her way down towards the basement, unable to help but wonder what it was that they wanted down there.

There was nothing there but corpses.

Stepping off the elevator, Jodie readied her gun, switching off the safety. Carefully making her way down the hall, keeping her footsteps silent, she quickly caught sight of the intruder. Armed with what only appeared to be the broken off handle of a broomstick, she couldn't help but notice that he didn't look that old- from what she could see of him, anyways. His back was turned to her at the moment, a cap pulled tightly down over part of his face, and-

That was when he turned in her direction, and Jodie felt her blood freeze in it's veins. As the intruder tensed, realizing that he was no longer alone in the hall, he slowly turned all the way around, eyes watching her with no small degree of caution.

And for a brief moment, as she caught sight of only the charred, burnt flesh, the faintest of bone shining through, bright white, against burned flesh and muscle, all of her training flew out the window, replaced by pure instinct.

Which was, incidentally, to shoot. Straight and clean, a perfect head shot. One that should have been the end of any intruder.

Except, apparently, this one.

His eyes rolling back into his head, Heiji found himself stumbling back a step- before he snapped back to his senses, using the broom handle as a prop to stand himself upright, placing his good hand against the now gaping bullet wound in his head, he felt his brain buzz, thoughts thrown into disarray in the time it took for the missing chunk of his brain to regenerate itself. Aware on some subconscious level of the visibly horrified American woman standing before him, he let out what he hoped was a non-threatening laugh.

Yeah, okay. If he'd seen himself under these circumstances, he'd have shot himself too. That was fair.

"Well, the good news is," Heiji finally found enough of his senses to speak, moving his good hand so that it covered up the unpleasant looking portion of his face, leaving only the part that had already fully healed visible- maybe that would put her more at ease. "If this were a zombie movie, ya'd probably live."

"You can talk."

In retrospect, it was a dumb statement- perhaps the stupidest of her life.

"I can speak English too, if you prefer that!" Switching over to the woman's native language, he couldn't help but grin a little at the look of surprise on her face. Switching back to Japanese again, he cast his good eye towards her gun, all but feeling the bullet wound she'd opened up in his head closing up as if it had never been there. "Do ya mind lowerin' that, by any chance? It's just that I haven't had the greatest past couple of days, an' I'd really rather not have a gun pointed at my head on top of everythin' else."

"Actually come ta think of it, I don't even know what _day_ it is. Or where I am. Or who you are." Heiji mused, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head, wincing internally as he realized he'd just done that with his bad hand. Pulling it away from his head, he made a slight face- eventually the portions that were still burnt would catch up to the rest of him and heal just fine, but man, he must have been a _total wreck_ when they dragged him in here.

Aw damn, that was right. He was supposed to be _dead_.

"If it's any comfort to ya, I normally look a lot better than this." Heiji added, almost as an afterthought.

"It's May 18th." Jodie finally replied, hesitating to lower her gun. She had definitely just shot this person squarely in the head, but not only was he talking to her like nothing had just happened, she'd also watched his bullet wound close up like it was nothing. Who- _what_ \- exactly was this person?

"Who are you?" Jodie asked after a moment, inching a step closer towards him. Well, if he could talk to her like this, he probably wasn't some kind of monster, even if the burnt portions of his flesh did remind her of the corpses they'd salvaged from the wreck of Absinthe's lab. A slight shudder ran down her spine as she cast a glance towards that room, wondering if they were perhaps one short.

But that would be impossible.

"I asked ya first." Heiji pointed out, arching a brow, growing somewhat tired of holding his good hand over his face and finally letting it drop. Rolling his good eye a little as he watched the way the woman flinched, he picked up the broom handle he was toting around, resting it over the back of his shoulders. "Seriously, ya can lower the gun. I ain't gonna do anythin', and I ain't some kind of intruder. I just want ta _leave_."

"How did you get in here in the first place, then?" Jodie asked.

"Ya brought me here." Heiji told her frankly, shrugging his shoulders.

"We didn't..." Jodie began, before she trailed off, casting half a glance back towards the room where the corpses were. Watching as the dark skinned youth in front of her shrugged his shoulders once more, indicating with his head that she might as well go take a look for herself, she carefully made her way back to the room, not taking her eyes off of him for a second.

It only took her a moment to realize that there were only four corpses in the room, not five. There had _definitely_ been five.

Turning her gaze back towards him, she couldn't help but notice the slow way that the burns on his face and arm seemed to be gradually healing over, in a manner not dissimilar to the bullet wound he'd taken earlier- if not at a considerably slower rate.

"Who _are_ you?" Jodie repeated. "You're not with _them_ , are you?"

Granted, he looked a bit on the young side for that- he probably wasn't any older than a teenager, now that she was looking at the parts of him that appeared to be normal.

"Hell no!" Offended at the mere implication, but clearly understanding what she meant, Heiji couldn't help but glower at her. "Never in a million years would I be with those guys! It's basically their fault that I ended up like this in the first place!"

Finally choosing to lower her gun, holstering it for the moment, Jodie let out a breath. Whoever this person was, she at least trusted that he was telling the truth about that. Closing the distance between them, she had to fight back a slight shudder- the burns looked even worse the closer she got.

"You asked where you were, earlier." Jodie said finally, casting an assessing gaze down at the teenager in front of her. She'd thought he was a foreigner when she looked at him from a distance- but up close she could tell that he was clearly Japanese. There was something about the unburned parts of face that tugged at her memory, but she couldn't place what it was. "You're at an FBI compound, that's all I'll tell you for the moment. My name is Jodie Starling. Now would you be so kind as to tell me yours?"

A brief look of hesitation crossed his face, before honesty seemed to win out in this situation. If this lady really was from the FBI, it wouldn't be in his best interests to lie- besides, if that really were the case, she might actually be able to help him. "Hattori Heiji." He told her truthfully. "My name's Hattori Heiji."

Finally, a link seemed to place itself in the woman's head.

"One of the two missing high school detectives." Jodie remarked. Among the things that had caught their interest when they had arrived here were the disappearances of two high school students who had been highly valued by the police of their respective Prefectures. One was the son of the famous novelist, Kudo Yusaku, who in some circle was dubbed as the Heisei Holmes- Kudo Shinichi. But traces of him had turned up when they had looked hard enough.

On the other hand, Hattori Heiji had truly gone to the earth, and from the look of him, Jodie suspected that she might know _why_.

"Oh, so ya know me!" Heiji's eyes lit up at that, a wide grin flashing on his face. She couldn't help but wonder if he was in any pain at all, but judging from how bad the slowly healing burns were, she guessed that he didn't have any functioning nerves left to send such sensations to his brain- which left the mystery of how he could move his right arm at all, she supposed. "So you're with the FBI, huh? I guess it makes sense that ya'd be lookin' into _that_ Organization as well."

"I am. We are." Jodie confirmed for him with a slight nod, before letting a slight sigh escape from her lips. "Why don't we go somewhere a bit more private to speak in length, Hattori-kun?" She asked.

"Sounds fine ta me." Giving her a slight shrug of his shoulders, Heiji all but cast aside his makeshift weapon, more of a show of good faith than anything. Following her over towards the elevator, he peered inside, as if double checking to confirm it really was empty, before he followed her inside. "I guess yer the reason that all those alarm bells were going off."

"Yes." Jodie said simply, the realization that he must have been in the lab at that time slowly sinking into her. She'd counted the corpses for herself, but she still couldn't believe what was in front of her eyes, watching as the young man stood to her right side, so that she wouldn't have to look at his own still-burnt right. What kind of body did this boy possess, exactly?

She kind of had the feeling she already knew the answer. And with that came the answer as to what he must have been doing at the lab in the first place. She didn't need to ask to know that he hadn't been there out of his own free will.

She knew that much as she watched him step out of the elevator into the more bustling section of their compound- proceeding to catch the eye of nearly everyone who passed by, most of them quickly averting their gazes from him. Watching as he swallowed, a slight tremble to his voice even as he forced another broad grin on his face, turning back towards her.

"I'm really not in Absinthe's lab anymore, huh?"

"No." Finding her expression soften in spite of herself, she felt a surge of sympathy rush through her. "You're safe."

Although he managed to mask his expression of utter relief well, Jodie still managed to catch it. Frowning slightly as she fell back a pace, watching the back of his head, not even a trace of the gunshot wound left behind, she dropped her voice, speaking in a softer tone. "I must apologize for shooting you, Hattori-kun."

"Nah, ya don't gotta apologize fer somethin' like that." Heiji was quick to reassure her, glancing back at her, all but laughing the earlier incident off. "Can't say that I blame ya, even. I've ain't real pretty right now, after all. I would've shot me too." With a slight shrug of his shoulders, he tried to once again mask his real feelings behind another bright grin. "'Sides, I've dealt with worse."

She didn't doubt that was the truth.


	12. John Doe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conan and Heiji have an important chat and make plans to investigate the sighting of Absinthe and the missing Saint of Russia, all while a mysterious stranger turns up at Cafe Poirot.

His wife had been worrying about something for the past two days. He knew her well enough to know this without any words needing to be exchanged between them.

Given the fact that their son was currently missing, this was certainly nothing new. However, Hattori Heizo did not miss the way his wife's worries suddenly seemed to increase after the news went public with the fact that children from the list of potential Powered were going missing without a trace.

He wasn't quite certain why it was this that inflated her worries, but Heizo had his suspicions. One did not get to be the head of an entire prefecture's police force by not being good at their job- and Heizo very much was. He'd known full well that Shizuka had been hiding something from him in regards to their son for any number of years now. He could even pinpoint _when_ exactly it had started, if he thought far back enough. It wasn't hard to miss the way that his wife had returned home on that steamy summer day, her grip on Heiji's hand so tight that he was actively complaining about it.

His wife had always been pale, in stark contrast to their son, but on that day, she was far paler than she usually was, as if she'd seen something that she wished she hadn't. He hadn't missed the fact that his son was wearing an entirely different set of clothes than the ones he'd set out in that morning when Shizuka had taken her four year old son to the park. Shizuka's own hands were raw and pink, as if she'd scrubbed them clean with far too much force. And he _certainly_ hadn't missed the way Shizuka had fretted and worried for at least two weeks after that, before she finally seemed to settle down, a sense of calm finally falling over her.

Naturally, he'd been concerned about it back then, but Shizuka had declined to say anything, convincing him that nothing was wrong. He didn't quite believe her, but at the time, he hadn't felt the need to press his wife about it. When he'd asked his son about it, he would only shake his head and tell him that his mother had told him to keep it a secret, even from him- and he didn't want to make her mad. Probably whatever it was, Heiji had been too young to fully understand it at the time.

Hattori Heizo was no fool, and he'd long since suspected that perhaps the results they'd gotten back from the test that Heiji had undergone, alongside every other child of his age group, around second grade, might have been tampered with somehow. He'd noticed back then, the way Shizuka's face had paled when the test had been announced, the way she'd hurried to a phone only to have her breath catch in her throat as she tried and failed to call a number. When he'd asked about it, she'd laughed it off and promised him that it was nothing, but she hadn't relaxed until the test results had come back negative.

Both times, he had let it go.

That had been his mistake.

When Heiji had suddenly disappeared without so much of a trace, he could see the bolt of fear that ran through Shizuka's eyes right away. Frankly, Heizo wouldn't have put it past his son to leave the house to pursue some kind of case without telling them first- but as the days turned into weeks without any form of contact, he too, knew full well that something was wrong. It had been different for his wife however- she had realized what everyone else was only just coming to understand almost instantly.

_Something_ had happened to Heiji.

Naturally, Heizo had been investigating the matter himself. It was his own son that was missing, there was no way in the world that the Osakan police head wasn't going to look into the matter personally. Digging his nose in deep, he'd only managed to pick up the faintest traces of Heiji- a whisper of a rumor from a place that the locals referred to as 'Mermaid Island', where they said that a dark skinned youth with a Osakan accent had been a tremendous help when it came to solving a series of serial murders there, before he'd vanished without a trace. Heizo instinctively knew that this could have been no one other than his missing son.

The second whisper of a rumor was far more disturbing to Heizo, and it was why he hadn't as of yet shared the information with anyone else- not even his wife, and _certainly_ not with Heiji's childhood friend, who had been desperately searching for him in her own right. To think that she would go so far as to hire a private detective on her own- Kazuha was clearly far more worried about him than she let on. The detective in question was also why he had waited until he and his family had gone home before confronting his wife about the things she couldn't say.

A mysterious, unidentified corpse had turned up in the Nagano Prefecture, one belonging to that of a dark skinned young man, carrying nothing on him to identify himself. Before his identity could be investigated, however, the corpse had completely disappeared from the police station, as if it had simply gotten up and left under it's own power. Heizo couldn't shake his gut feeling that the corpse in question was none other than his own son, and yet, somehow, this hadn't lead to the dreaded realization that his son might be have died, as one would have thought it would.

After all, the case on Mermaid Island had happened an _entire month_ after the mysterious John Doe had vanished from the Nagano prefecture.

In other words, his son was still alive.

As Heizo watched his wife pace, so engrossed in her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed him come in, Heizo carefully approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder. She knew it at once for his own, and didn't jump nor falter, only slowly turning her gaze up towards him, the deep worry that a mother felt for her missing son clear as day on her face.

"Shizuka," Heizo began, his voice stern, but not cold. "What do you _know?_ "

Opening her mouth, and then quickly shutting it again, Shizuka turned to face him completely, carefully taking his hands in her own. This was no longer the time for keeping secrets, especially not from her husband, who might very well be the only person who could find where there son had gone- or where he had been _taken_ , she thought to herself, a certain feeling of dread in her stomach.

The knowledge that wherever he was, he was at the _very least_ alive, was a cold comfort.

"Forgive me, Heizo. I promised myself that I would tell you when the first month passed with no word from him, but after all this time, it became difficult for me to say." Shizuka told him, her voice barely above a whisper- but she didn't drop her gaze from him, didn't shy away from him. "I should have told you about it when I first noticed it, all those years ago. Then maybe something like this wouldn't be happening _now._ "

"I only wanted to _protect_ him, Heizo." Shizuka told him, letting her shoulders slump slightly. "If word got out..." Her breath caught in her throat then, a slight shudder running down her spine as her thoughts went too far away on their own down that dark path. "Our son would have never been able to live a normal life again."

"Protect him from who, Shizuka?" Heizo asked, a certain softness making it's way into his voice. He wasn't angry at her for keeping things from him- it had always been in her nature to attempt to handle problems on her own, she simply wasn't conditioned to relying on others, even after all this time. It was where Heiji had gotten that trait from in the first place, he thought to himself.

"From everyone, Heizo." Shizuka told him simply, her eyes narrowing slightly. "From everyone, including himself. From his own ability."

"So he did possess one after all." Heizo said simply, unsurprised by this information. It had been something he'd long since deduced- even if Heiji himself had never seemed to notice. It was the root cause of Shizuka's worries, of that much he was abundantly certain.

"So you already knew that much." Shizuka said, her breath escaping from her in a sigh. Hanging her head for a moment, she could only scold her past self for being so reluctant to tell her own husband. She hadn't been thinking quite as clearly as she should have been during those two weeks in which she had discovered his ability for herself- but even in that, she could not entirely blame her past self. She had just been doing what she thought she needed to do to keep Heiji safe.

She had, after all, watched her then four year old son die before her eyes. Anyone would have been shaken by such an experience.

The fact that he'd just as easily come back to life right in front of her eyes as if nothing had ever happened did _nothing_ to offset that. Once her tremendous relief at seeing her son alive and unharmed had faded away somewhat, new feelings had been born inside of her chest- knowledge of what this must have meant, and knowledge of what would happen if anyone found out about it.

And knowledge that she, as his mother, had to do whatever it was that she could to protect him. Even if that meant keeping the truth from him- even if that meant keeping the truth from everyone, her husband included.

Her old friend, the one that she had desperately contacted as a last ditch resort, not knowing who else to turn to, had always warned her that what she had created for him was only a temporary measure- that one day there would most likely come a time when his ability would once again come to light. She had warned her that when that day finally came, there might be nothing she could do for him any longer. Shizuka had always been holding her breath, wondering when that day would come, and under what circumstances it would arrive. She had always held out hope for the best, but to some degree, she'd always braced herself for the worst.

And the worst it was.

"If our son ran away from us, then surely I must be the one to blame, Heizo." Shizuka told him, shutting her eyes. "He must have realized the truth for himself, somehow. That's what I thought at first, when he disappeared, and took his things with him. At first, I really did think he had simply just run away. Heiji's such a smart boy, Heizo, he really is. Without a doubt, he must have realized that one of us had something to do with it... with hiding his own ability from him, concealing the truth. Maybe he felt as if he couldn't trust us anymore, or maybe he just wanted some space and some time to himself... that's what I thought at first."

"But when I realized that he hadn't even tried to contact Kazuha, I realized that something must have been wrong." Shizuka's drew in a sharp breath, looking up towards her husband again. "That, someone, somewhere, had learned about his ability."

Hattori Heizo was no fool. Even if she didn't tell him what it was aloud, he had already begun to realize what his son's ability must have been. When he looked at what facts he had, there was only one answer that fit.

An ability that shouldn't be allowed to come to light.

A corpse that appeared to have vanished underneath it's own power.

"It's alright, Shizuka." Heizo was quick to reassure his wife, carefully shifting the position of their hands so that he now cupped hers in his. "I'll bring that foolish son of ours home, that I can promise you. You don't have to say anything more."  
________________________________________________________________

Conan had left Osaka behind with no small degree of frustration. He'd been able to develop a number of theories while he was there- but he had no concrete evidence of anything. The fact that something so big had begun happening beyond his notice, during a time in which he was far away from his own home turf, did _nothing_ to help his frustrations. Even as he arrived at the Professor's house to find that the portly man had indeed received the case records that he'd asked for from Inspector Megure, he couldn't shake his annoyance over what had seemed like something of a wasted trip.

Heiji's mother, he thought, knew _something_. That was the main conclusion that he had drawn from the trip there, but he hadn't been able to dig up any further information himself.

The case records, however, shed a little more light on the movements of Hattori Heiji.

Four months ago, in the Nagano Prefecture, an unidentified corpse had turned up that seemed to match the description of the missing high school detective. But before anyone could investigate the corpse's identity, it had completely vanished, as if it had gotten up and left by itself. To anyone else, this would have sounded absurd, like something out of a horror movie- but Conan knew without a doubt that the corpse in question had been none other than Heiji himself.

The corpse in question had been shot several times, which had been it's cause of death- they'd determined that much before bringing it back to the station for a more thorough autopsy- one that never had a chance to take place. It still raised plenty of questions for Conan- when and why had Heiji been shot? Did it have anything to do with those guys, or had it been a complete coincidence?

The report that came out of the Gunma prefecture a little over a month ago was even more absurd sounding, Conan couldn't help but note. He wasn't quite certain what to make of it, and he was more than a little surprised that the person in charge of filing records hadn't just laughed the detective in question out of the office at the mere mention of a decapitated man scooping up it's head and fixing it back in place. This again, raised the question as to how Heiji had found himself in that exact situation- as well as the question of exactly how on earth he could survive being _literally decapitated_ , much less still somehow possess the function needed to move even when his brain had no connection to the rest of his body.

There had always been _some_ hint of science behind the strange abilities that the Powered Children carried within themselves. Through tests done on those who were willing to take them had informed researchers exactly how they could work, if not how they had come about in the first place. Shinichi himself had volunteered for such a study in the past, and the researchers were more than happy to share with him all the details about how his vocal chords were different from those of other people's, to allow him to be able to perfectly mimic the voices of others with no prior training. Ran had declined- she didn't like to be poked and prodded, but he was pretty sure there was a reasonable basis for her super strength.

Hattori Heiji's ability, apparently, was a completely different story, at least in so far as he could tell.

And that, Conan had to admit, was something he found more than a little curious.

"You really shouldn't think too much about things like that." Ai's dry tone caught his attention. Her hand was lightly resting on that of his own, a warning expression written clear as day on her face. As she slowly pulled her hand away from Conan's own, she sat back in the chair across from him. "Hattori-kun regards you as a friend already, it seems. I don't need to read his mind to know that he's already had enough of people trying to pry into the secrets of his body."

"Don't just read my mind without asking, Haibara." Conan told her, heaving a slight sigh. "But you're right. I can't deny that I'm curious, but I don't need to be told something like that." Glancing up at her, he shut the case records he had been looking through, putting them aside. "Well? Did he come over here any while I was away?"

"Twice." Ai said simply. "Once because he was looking for you, and one because he was looking for me."

"He wanted a copy of the list, didn't he?" Conan asked. "I hope that you have one for me to look at as well, Haibara. Given the circumstances, I don't doubt that Absinthe is involved in this somehow, all the more so if it caught Hattori's interest so quickly."

"I must say that I agree." Ai noted, giving a curt nod of her head. "Of course, I have a copy for you as well, Kudo-kun. I also had Hattori-kun promise to not disappear on us in exchange for giving him his copy of the list in the first place."

"He has to have someone feeding him this information." Conan said with a frown, leaning back into his chair. "And it's probably someone _other_ than Jodie-sensei."

"Why don't you just have a frank talk with him instead of all this running around behind his back?" Ai asked simply.

"Do you think he'd really tell me if I just asked?" Conan asked her. "He didn't really seem that inclined to earlier."

"I think he would." Ai nodded her head. "He was hesitant at first because he didn't know much about you, but I think he would tell you now if you asked him. It's not in his nature to shut people out in the first place, I think. Well, I think there's also things he finds difficult to discuss, but given what he must have gone through to get to this point, that doesn't really surprise me."

"Besides, with everything going on, the two of you are best off putting your heads together." Ai said simply. "You both have your limitations when it comes to investigating things at the moment, it would be for the best if you worked together as closely as possible."

"You're probably right." Conan admitted after a moment, rubbing the back of his head. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his cellphone, inputting the number that Heiji had given him the other day. It'd be the first time he'd actually used it, and for the moment, he'd start off by sending him a simple text message.

_'Let's talk. - K S'_  
_____________________________________________________________________

"So? How did ya like Osaka?" Not wasting any time getting straight to the point, Heiji flashed a grin at the seemingly younger boy sitting next to him.

"Since when did you figure out that's where I was?" Conan asked, barely even looking up at him. Heiji had gotten back to him post haste, arranging a meeting in a park that wasn't terribly far from Jodie's apartment.

"From the start. It really wasn't all that hard ta guess. So, did ya figure anythin' out, great eastern detective?" Heiji asked, leaning back on the bench. There were plenty of things that he wanted to discuss with him, but he should probably start off from here. While he had been hesitant to fully disclose things to the shrunken detective sitting next to him at first, such feelings had waned somewhat- especially now that that woman was moving in such a bold way.

Jodie had confronted him that previous night, making him promise that he wouldn't recklessly dive into this investigation. She seemed to be under the impression that it was partially a trap for him- and frankly, Heiji had to agree. However, that didn't mean he was going to sit around and do _nothing_ while this was unfolding before his very eyes. Trap or not, he had no intention of playing into that woman's hands ever again.

"Your mother definitely knows something." Conan said finally, casting a look over towards him. "I take it you noticed that your name wasn't on the list when you got a copy of it from Haibara?"

"Yeah." Giving him a slight nod, Heiji stretched out his legs in front of him, a slight frown on his face. "I've always been kind of suspicious that one or both of my parents knew somethin' about my ability, considerin' the circumstances. Well, whatever the case is, I doubt it has anythin' ta do with _them_. Any rational parent would probably be concerned if they discovered their children was immortal. The real question is how she pulled off hidin' it in the first place, an' I'm guessin' ya didn't come any closer ta figurin' that out yerself."

"You'd be right." Conan said, closing his eyes. "So? What was the real reason that you left Osaka? To not even trust your father, there must have been something that was deeply bothering you, Hattori."

"Yeah." Grumbling a little, Heiji's eyes narrowed, a vivid expression of betrayal crossing his face. "What I said before about not really gettin' a good look at Ginger's face is a total lie. Not only did I see it, I _already_ knew it. She works fer Kazuha's father."

"With the police?" Conan asked, his brows furrowing, recalling that the father of his childhood friend was apparently the chief homicide inspector of the Osakan police force. Well, he couldn't say that he was surprised to learn that the Black Organization had moles within the police, but this was the first confirmation that he'd had of it. "I see. No wonder you had no choice but to disappear."

"Yeah." Turning his gaze skyward, Heiji's lips curled into a tight frown. "I grew up with that woman, more or less, an' had no idea she was that sort of person the whole time. She attacked me without even the slightest bit of hesitation- an' after all the cases that I helped her out with in the past too. Some thanks I get."

"Are you afraid that your parents and your childhood friend are in danger because of her?" Conan asked.

"No, not at the moment." Heiji said simply. It was something he'd given considerable thought to. "If she was gonna make a move like that, then she would have ta be prepared ta give up her current position as well. Until then, she probably won't make a move against them, even if she knows I'm involved in all of this. As long as they stay out of it themselves, they're probably be fine, especially if Absinthe doesn't drag the Organization as a whole into this."

Well, it would be a different question if she did, though. The sudden death of the head of the Osakan police force might gain them more attention than they would want, but as for his mother and Kazuha- that was a different story.

"But why not let your father know?" Conan asked. "Surely he could do something. I've only heard good things about him in the past."

" _Idiot_ , there's no way I could have let him know back then without lettin' those two know I was still alive. If he started looking into the matter right after I supposedly died, then they'd start ta get more than a little suspicious." His tone was a bit sharper than he intended, something which he quickly realized. "The moment that woman finds out that my old man knows somethin' like _that_ is the moment Kazuha an' everyone else stops bein' safe. So I can't say anythin' ta him at this point. Subtle as he is about that sort of thing, the risk is too high."

"If they die, they can't come back to life, after all." Heiji mumbled underneath his breath, those words not really meant for anyone other than himself.

Beyond that, he hadn't been quite thinking all that straight when he left Osaka in the first place, but he was a little too embarrassed to admit that to Conan. He couldn't help but get the impression from him that he was always composed, regardless of the circumstances, in direct opposition to his own hotblooded, impulsive nature.

It was said nature that had gotten him _into_ this mess in the first place, and he was trying as best he could to restrain it somewhat these days. It was certainly true that no matter what anyone did to him, he wouldn't die, but that didn't hold true for those around him- and he couldn't let himself forget that fact. Given the fact that he had no idea what his own immortality meant for his own future, he wasn't exactly in a rush to lose his loved ones far ahead of schedule.

He didn't like to dwell on that sort of thing for very long. Whatever the near future had in store for him was far more important than what the future ten years from now would be like, at the moment.

"I see. I think I understand your situation a little better, Hattori." Conan said after a moment, placing a hand on his chin in thought. "You've been searching for clues about them all on your own for some time, haven't you?"

At the very least, he had Professor Agasa by his side right from the start. Ai was right- Heiji really wasn't lucky at all.

"Yeah." Rubbing the back of his neck, Heiji grumbled a little. Well, he'd been doing more than just searching for clues about them- but considering what else he was doing during that time period wasn't at all related to the Black Organization, he felt that it was fairly safe to keep it to himself. "It wasn't until around four months ago that I managed ta find somethin' like an ally. Well, although at first, she was only givin' me a place ta go back ta at the end of the day. Considerin' the circumstances she found me under, I'm surprised that she brought me into her place at all though."

"Is she the one who has been feeding you information?" Conan asked, turning a sharp eye towards him.

"That's right. She was retired when I met her, but she used ta work for the Nagano police. Well, she eventually rejoined them in the end, though it wasn't just because of me. She had her own circumstances." Heiji told him. "Uehara Yui. That's her name. She looked after me more or less fer about three months on top of everythin' else. That's afore everythin' got all mixed up in Gunma."

"I read that report." Conan noted, choosing not to make eye contact with him at the moment. "Is that how they managed to learn you were still alive?"

"Nah. They already knew I was alive before that. That's kind of how I turned up as a corpse in Nagano in the first place. That incident in Gunma was how they managed ta finally _catch_ me though." With a tight frown, Heiji's eyes narrowed as he recalled that turn of events. "If ya don't really mind too much, Kudo, I'd... rather skip the part where I go into details about what happened after that. Suffice ta say she didn't nearly get enough out of me before the FBI tried to raid her lab an' she decided to blow it up rather than compromise any of her research."

"I don't need the details, Hattori, not unless you ever want someone to talk to them about." Conan said after a moment, letting out a breath he hadn't fully realized he was holding. "I can already imagine full well that nothing good happened. But why didn't she take you with her, if you were so important?"

"It was too risky. S'not like I was gonna stay dead anyways, even if she did blow up the place with me inside." Heiji said with a slight shrug. "I'm guessin' she didn't think I'd hook up with the FBI after that, which was the exact reason I decided to once Jodie-han caught me tryin' ta sneak out of their complex. That was... an experience." He said, briefly recalling their encounter in that basement hallway. "She probably thought I'd go into hidin' on my own again, an' that she'd find me a lot easier that way."

"I see." Nodding his head, Conan felt that made sense. "And now that you're gone, she's trying to continue her research in any way she can, and hopefully draw you out as well. But, I have to say, for a member of _that_ Organization, her movements are awfully bold. I looked over the information that the Inspector sent me about the potential Powered who are missing from Tokyo, and while it's true that she didn't leave any traces behind, it's still a bold, attention catching move. It's not like them."

"You're the only one out of all of us who has actually met her, Hattori. What's your opinion?" Conan asked, turning to look over towards him.

"Yer not wrong about that, Kudo." Heiji told him frankly, his brows furrowing in thought. "I wasn't certain of it until I was brought into her lab fer myself, but there's definitely somethin' there. Somethin' that's _a lot_ more personal ta her than just wantin' ta turn over good results to her boss."

"You're not telling me that she wants to become immortal herself?" Conan asked.

"No, I don't think that's it." Heiji said, shaking his head. "Even though she's got that Saint of Russia girl in her hands now, she apparently hasn't healed that burn scar of hers that she always desperately tries ta hide. Ya'd think that'd be one of the first things she would've gotten fixed from the moment she captured her. Healin' somethin' like that'd be nothin' fer that girl, if the stories I've heard about her healin' powers are actually true."

"There's somethin' else." He mused, before letting out a frustrated sigh. "But even if I say that, I don't know what it might it might be. It's probably fer this personal goal that she's shuttin' the rest of the Organization out of whatever it is she's doin'. But well, if she keeps it up, there's no way they won't take notice, provided that they haven't already... an' that's when things are gonna get tricky."

"I have to agree with you there." Conan frowned, before blinking, turning to look up at Heiji. "Wait, you said that like you _know_ she hasn't healed her burn scar since she kidnapped the Saint of Russia. Did you learn something out, Hattori?"

"Ya could say that." Heiji said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out the photograph he'd been given by Yui. "How do ya feel about takin' a field trip to Nagano with me, Kudo?"

"I feel like I need to start thinking up a good excuse to tell Ran."  
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Sato Miwako did not often find herself at a loss, at the very least, not when it came to her job. But today was different, and the only cold comfort was the fact that she wasn't alone in this regard.

The mass disappearance of teenagers who had tested positive for potentially possessing Powered abilities was currently befuddling the police, and Sato was no different. She'd been pouring over the case ever since the first report had cropped up- normally kidnappings were outside of her division, but with so many teenagers start to go missing, the first division had taken on the burden of the case as well.

There were mutters going around about this being some kind of supernatural doing, that those who had been effected by the mysterious phenomena known only as the Night of the Falling Stars were being spirited away, perhaps by the strange force that had altered their bodies in the first place. That, Sato knew, was foolish- whatever the cause was behind the Night of the Falling Stars, she doubted that it had been anything supernatural. _Cosmic_ , perhaps, but not _supernatural_.

Whoever was behind this was perfectly human- that much had been proven when the daughter of Nakamori Ginzo had arrived at the police station with her childhood friend in tow, informing them that she had been followed by someone that day. She'd been lucky to escape whoever it was, but she had been too frightened to look behind her, so she didn't know anything about her pursuer.

In the end it didn't even really matter. He'd turned up dead at the end of the day, after the police managed to trace his steps based on witness testimony. They still had no idea as to what his cause of death could have been- it almost seemed as if it had been natural causes, but for someone whose medical records indicated that he was otherwise the picture of perfect health, what possible kind of natural cause could simply make his body entirely shut down like that?

Whoever had hired him had cleaned up after themselves, of that, Sato was certain.

Nakamori Aoko had been assigned police protection, for the moment. It was hard to say if the person behind this would try and kidnap her again, but it was better safe than sorry. The ones who had been tasked with watching over her were none other than her own partner, Takagi Wataru, and another detective that she knew rather well, by the name of Chiba. She didn't doubt that the two of them would do their job well, and keep her safe- her childhood friend had been rather _adamant_ about this, she recalled.

There was one thing about Aoko's statement that bothered Sato, however- and that was the lack of a certain person in it. While Aoko had claimed that she had noticed the person following her on her own, and had fled on her own, at least one witness who had noticed the man falling into step behind the teenage girl had mentioned that someone else had approached Aoko at the time. He'd been described as a dark skinned young man wearing a hoodie, but when they'd asked Aoko about him later, she quickly denied ever meeting such a person.

She was obviously lying, though- the real question was _why_.

Judging from the sound of it, the young man in question had most likely assisted Aoko in getting away from her pursuer- that was something to be _rewarded_ , not condemned. It was possible that there was a good reason for, but for the moment, Sato was drawing blanks on what it could be.

Still, her main focus was on locating the missing teenagers, and discovering the culprit behind the kidnappings. And even though the truth was eluding her now, she wasn't about to rest until she uncovered the truth.  
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"There you are, Ran-neechan!" Conan piped up upon spotting the familiar figure of his childhood friend, a fittingly childish smile on his currently childish face as he approached her. He and Heiji had spent the later part of their meeting hammering out details of how they would be getting to Nagano- taking separate trains and meeting up there seemed like the safest bet. Heiji had passed on an address to him which Conan had quickly memorized, a place in Nagano where the two of them could secretly meet without rousing attention.

Conan had already thought of an excuse to tell Ran about why he was going to be gone for a day or two at best- and he couldn't help but wonder what Heiji planned on telling Jodie, if he was planning on telling her anything at all. He didn't imagine that he would keep her in the dark about something this important, however, provided that the FBI didn't _already_ know about it.

"Ah, Conan-kun." Ran smiled down at him, pulling her attention away from the young man that she had been chatting away with. Catching notice of him himself now, Conan couldn't help but frown a little, eying the unknown stranger in mild suspicion. Who was this guy, that Ran had been chatting away so happily with? "Welcome back."

"I'm back!" Conan nodded his head, before fixing his attention towards the young man in question again. Judging from his apron, he could easily guess that he was a new hire at Poirot, the cafe that was located just below that uncle's detective agency. "Who is this person, Ran-neechan?"

"Ah, this?" Ran smiled at him. "This is Tooru Amuro, a new part timer that Azusa-san just hired. Apparently he's a fan of my father's work. Ah, this boy is Edogawa Conan, the one who is living with us at the moment."

"Heh?" Conan frowned, carefully studying the young man. He looked like was somewhere in his late twenties, and had dark skin, not unlike Heiji's- though a shade or so darker, Conan mentally noted. It made his pale blonde hair stand out all the more. "Are you a fan of detectives, Amuro-niisan?"

"Well, you could say that I'm something of one myself." Amuro told him with an easy smile- and though he masked it well, Conan didn't miss the assessing look that was sent his way, something that struck him as more than a little bit odd. Most people who met him for the first time didn't think much of him, just viewing him as another child. "Although I'm nowhere near as skilled as Mouri-san's father. If anything, I'm a complete novice in the field."

"Then, did you take a job here so you could watch Uncle Kogoro work?" Conan asked, hiding the true intention of his question behind the mask of a curious child.

With a slightly sheepish laugh, Amuro gave him a slight nod. "Well, I certainly won't deny that. Although it was also true that I was looking for a part time job to help make ends meet. When I noticed that there was an opening here, I just couldn't help myself."

"I see!" Nodding his head, Conan reached up, taking Ran's hand in his own. For some reason he didn't like the idea of letting him know that he wouldn't be around for the next few days, so he'd take Ran somewhere private before he passed on his excuse for his upcoming absence to her. "Ran-neechan, let's go! I want you to help me with my math homework!"

Blinking a little, Ran couldn't help but find it rather rare that Conan needed the help- usually he finished his homework in a breeze. For a child, he was amazingly smart. "Sure thing, Conan-kun. Then, I'm sorry, Amuro-san, but it looks like we need to cut our conversation short here."

"Ah, I don't mind at all, Ran-san." Amuro gave her an easy smile. "It's nothing that can't be continued at another time. It was nice to meet you as well, Conan-kun."

As the blonde man waved to them, Conan lead Ran upstairs, unable to help but wonder who that guy was. His instincts told him that there was something more there- but what that something more was, was hard to say.

It wasn't until they made their way into the detective agency that Conan finally let go of Ran's hand, only now becoming slightly self-conscious at having held it for so long- something which he quickly managed to shake off so that he could get to the main point. "Ran-neechan, I have something I need to talk to you about."

"Sure." Nodding her head, Ran leaned down so that she could be closer to her young ward's level. "What's the matter, Conan-kun? Did something happen at school?"

"Ah, no, nothing like that." Conan said quickly, shaking his head. "Actually my mother is going to be in town for a day or two, and she wanted me to come spend time with her while we had the chance, so I wanted to let you know that I'll be gone for a few days starting on Wednesday."

"With your mom, huh?" Ran smiled a little, almost seeming relieved to hear it. That woman didn't nearly contact Conan enough, so she couldn't help but be worried. To hear that he was going to finally be able to spend some time with her was a good thing. "Alright. I'll pass it on to dad when he gets back. You must be pretty excited though, Conan-kun! It's been awhile since you saw your mother, after all!"

"Yeah, I'm excited!" Conan nodded his head. That, at the very least, definitely wasn't a lie. "I'm going to meet up with her at the Professor's place that morning, so you don't need to worry about anything, Ran-neechan."

"Alright. Then, in that case, I'll contact your school for you and let them know. Don't forget to call me though this time, okay, Conan-kun?" Ran asked.

"I won't!" With a childlike smile, Conan quickly promised her that much. "Thank you, Ran-neechan!"


	13. The Man the Ravens Sent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito plans a heist, and Heiji and Conan plan a trip, unwitting that it will lead them to arrive in the same place at the same time. In the midst of this, Amuro investigates.

"Young master?"

"Ah, sorry, sorry, Jii-chan." Breaking out of his reverie, Kaito looked over towards the older man, casting a small smile towards him. "I was just a little bit distracted. What were you saying about the security measures this time?"

"There's still time to call off the heist, young master." With a slight frown on his face, Konosuke Jii gave the young boy who he had known ever since he was a child a concerned look. He knew very well what the source of his distraction was- and it concerned the old man more than a little himself. He was quite fond of the girl in question as well, though he knew his fondness was of a different type than Kaito's. "I know the business with your friend has you quite worried, after all. There's no shame if you just want to concentrate on that, for the time being."

"It's fine, Jii-chan." Kaito was quick to reassure him, only a little bit of his smile being tied to his poker face. "Besides, this is the only chance we'll get to steal the target. After this, it'll be moving back outside the country again. I need to check and see if it's Pandora before that."

His father might have been an international phantom thief, but for the moment, the second Kaito Kid was rather limited to Japan. That might change one day- but hopefully he'd find the location of Pandora long before then.

"Aoko'll be coming with me anyways. I've already arranged it with her father. I think she wants a break from being followed around by a police officer twenty-four seven herself." Kaito told him.

Of course, she would still have a police escort upon arriving at their destination- the upcoming heist was going to take place in Nagano. But at the very least, the officer selected for the task had turned out to be a woman only ten years Aoko's senior, which would be a nice break from the two male police officers that had been shadowing her lately, however nice Takagi and Chiba had turned out to be.

"Besides, she's actually probably _a lot_ safer at a Kid heist than pretty much anywhere else in the world. Nobody would try and kidnap someone with so many police officers around." Kaito added, watching as the concerned expression on Jii's face didn't fade. "Really, it'll be okay. I wouldn't let something like this distract me to the point where I'd be caught by someone, so don't worry so much."

"I can't help _but_ worry. If something happened to you, your father in heaven would _never_ forgive me- nevermind your mother who is very much still here." Jii confessed, before heaving a sigh, knowing that there was very little he could do to argue with the youth when he'd already made up his mind. "But very well, young master. If you say that I have nothing to worry about, then I will take you at your word."

"Thanks, Jii-chan." Kaito told him, giving him a small smile. Really, he didn't want to worry the old man half as much as he knew he did. "Anyways, what were you saying before we changed the topic? Something about the security measures?"

"Ah, yes." Refocusing on the subject at hand, Jii quickly began detailing the measures that had been put in place by both the museum management and Inspector Nakamori in preparation for his arrival the coming Wednesday. The heist would be on the following Thursday, with the Inspector arriving one day early to prepare. Nagano was outside of Nakamori's usual jurisdiction, but being the head of the Kaito Kid task force granted him special privileges in so far as that sort of thing was concerned.

Well, given that Kaito had heard some scary things about Nagano's police, he was almost kind of grateful that by and large they weren't involved with the heist all that much. It was only natural that he would study as much as he could about anyone that he might wind up dealing with in the course of his heists- and everything he read informed him that he _really_ never wanted to cross paths with police officers of the likes of Yamato Kansuke and Takaaki Morofushi, because _nothing good_ would come from it. It seemed that they were busy with some other kind of case, if his intelligence proved correct- although whatever case they were working on, it was absolutely top secret.

"And the mark will be right here, correct?" Kaito asked, tapping a location on the map. "Well, provided that they don't try and fool me with a dummy or anything. Honestly, that sort of plan never works out for them in the first place, so I don't know _why_ they keep trying it. It just makes more work for me."

His mark this time, a large ruby that went by the name of the Phoenix's Heart, had quickly earned his attention from it's name alone. Granted, he didn't _quite_ think that Pandora would be so obvious as to have an immortal creature in it's very name, but it would only be a fool who would overlook it simply for that reason. Besides that, _those guys_ would probably show up as well, if his intuition was on the mark. With a name like _that_ , there was no way that the jewel in question wouldn't tempt them out of hiding.

Well, when they did, he'd be prepared for them this time.  
__________________________________________________________________

Admittedly, when Vermouth had first mentioned something about keeping an eye on a seven year old boy by the name of Edogawa Conan, Amuro didn't quite understand what it was she was so worried about. Granted, he'd heard of the boy- he was the one who had managed to stop the likes of that showy, flashy phantom thief in his tracks more than once, so he was quite certain that he was no average first grader. The fact remained, however, that however clever the young boy was, he was _still_ a first grader. He might be someone scary in the future, but how could someone who barely came up to people's knees really be enough of a threat that he'd warranted a mention from the likes of _Vermouth_?

It was only _after_ Amuro met him that he fully understood why Vermouth was concerned. That assessing gaze that had been turned his way- that wasn't the gaze that belonged to an ordinary first grade student, not by a long shot. That gaze didn't even really belong to a child, but rather, someone far older.

It was almost vaguely intimidating, in it's own way. Not that he'd ever quake in fear from someone who he was _pretty sure_ he could sling underneath one shoulder, no problem, but he could understand _why_ he was someone to worry about.

In fact, now that he thought about, he was almost certain that there were details regarding Edogawa Conan that Vermouth hadn't told him, but he doubted that she'd open up about them if he asked- and he knew better than to press his luck. If there was one thing he'd learned about surviving in this Organization, it was to be very careful when and with who you tried such a thing with.

He could hazard a guess as to why he'd been placed here, at Cafe Poirot. Situated right underneath the office of the famous Sleeping Kogoro, it wasn't unlikely that the man himself would become a source of information for Amuro. He'd been less than impressed when he'd actually finally met him, much as he acted otherwise- the man certainly didn't seem like _any_ kind of proper detective, much less one deserving of the title _great_.

In fact, if he had to say it, that Conan child felt a lot more like a proper detective than the grown man did.

However curious as the child was, Amuro was here to investigate the actions of a fellow Organization member, not him- a woman by the codename of Absinthe. He had, actually had occasion to meet her once, her and her right hand woman- and she'd given him something of a creepy impression. Mad scientist would have been a good way to describe her- the kind of woman who would do anything that she needed in order to obtain results, not caring about anything else. Her right hand woman, Ginger, wasn't all that much better- underneath that smiling mask, Amuro could tell that she was someone who wouldn't hesitate to break your neck, something she looked _infinitely_ capable of doing with her bare hands.

A terrible duo, one that even stood out within the ranks of the Organization.

Ever since Sherry had vanished from the Organization, Absinthe had been tasked with taking over her research- although now it seemed as if she was working on a project of her own beyond that. And it was that research that Vermouth had charged him with investigating. She'd done some ground work herself already, but the rest acquired a little bit of assistance.

There was no doubt that Absinthe was directly tied to the number of teenagers who had recently gone missing- but what she could possibly want with those who had the potential to awaken to abilities was hard to say. If anything, it would have made _more_ sense for her to target the Powered Children who already had abilities, and yet there seemed to be no indication that she was doing so.

At least, not beyond the Saint of Russia. That was a stunt which Amuro considered even more audacious than her actions that followed. Given how tightly guarded that girl was as a living crown jewel of her mother country, he was frankly amazed that she was able to make her disappear so easily. Did she have some kind of connections that enabled her to make such a thing happen? He'd be certain to look into the matter.

Still, he already had a lead of where to start- when he began digging into the matter, one name had come up, a single girl who had in all likelihood avoided being kidnapped herself. Nakamori Aoko, was her name- the daughter of Inspector Nakamori Ginzo, who he knew was the head of the Kid Task Force and was a member of the Tokyo MPD'S second division. He'd already heard that the man who had been following her at the time had turned up dead, probably poisoned with none other than the likes of Apotoxin, judging from the report that he'd read.

Well, speaking to Aoko shouldn't be much of a problem. As long as he properly introduced himself as a detective who was trying to investigate the case, he was certain that she'd open up to him. It wasn't a lie, after all. She was just a teenage girl, so long as he treated her with consideration and a polite tone, he couldn't think of a single reason why she _wouldn't_ be willing to discuss the matter with him.

That said, he only had one day in which to do so, otherwise the investigation would have to be put on hold. She was heading with her father out to Nagano because of a Kid heist that was happening over there, and it would be far too suspicious if he followed her all the way out there. Since he wanted to begin his investigation as soon as possible, and since she was one of the chief leads, talking to her without delay was very much in his interest.

It wasn't just the Organization that was concerned with the current movements of Absinthe- but rather, his _other_ employer had expressed considerable concern into the matter as well. It wasn't often that his two lives intersected in such a fashion like this, which meant he had to be all the more careful to not let them overlap.

Investigating the site of her former lab in Gunma would be wise as well- although he doubted that there was anything left. Had there been, the FBI most likely would have already picked up on it. Wherever Absinthe had moved her current lab to, she was keeping it a closely guarded secret, even from those within the Organization.

There was one other lead that Amuro wanted to follow up on- and that revolved around the scant amount of information that Vermouth had gathered when she had infiltrated the woman's first lab a little over a month ago, when her unusual behavior had first started. She hadn't been able to glean that much from her visit- Absinthe was always rather paranoid in regards to security, so it was no small surprise that her reaction to the FBI having learned the location of her lab was to literally _blow it up_ , with almost everyone who worked underneath her still inside.

There was a rumor, that five corpses had been pulled from the site by the FBI- but when they turned the bodies over to the local police, there had only been four of them.

Where, then, had the fifth corpse gone?

Vermouth had a theory, and that theory centered around a young man who had only been recorded in Absinthe's files simply as Test Subject 001. A human test subject, Amuro thought, narrowing his eyes a little as he dwelled on that for a moment longer than he cared for. Judging the photo of him, he was a young man, probably no older than a teenager, whose dark skin was a shade darker than Amuro's own.

Vermouth didn't have a name to place to the face, but Amuro _did_ \- and it was a name that had already appeared in the Organization's records once before.

As someone who was _supposed_ to have died six months ago.

The Osakan high school detective, Hattori Heiji.  
____________________________________________________________________

"I'm against this, Hattori-kun."

"C'mon, Jodie-han." Clapping his hands together in a pleading gesture, Heiji did his best to assuage that stern look that was being cast in his direction. One could definitely tell that she had more than gotten used to her current role as a teacher. "I promise I'll be careful. There's no way we can't investigate this lead."

"And we will." Jodie said simply, not allowing the high school detective to break eye contact with her. "There's no need for you to go and do it yourself, Hattori-kun."

She was grateful, at least, that he had informed her that he was planning on heading to Nagano to follow up on a lead he'd gotten in regards to Absinthe and the missing Saint of Russia. He could have very well just have not told her, and once again disappeared without a trace. It wouldn't be all that hard for the FBI to lose track of him- he'd simply need to discard his cellphone and leave when nobody was paying attention to him. And that was something her boss very much didn't want, considering he was the only solid link that they currently had to the Organization.

And it was something that she didn't want either, for that, and other reasons.

Namely concern. How _had_ she grown so fond of this impulsive Osakan teenager who was the very _definition_ of 'act first, think later'? She'd only known him for a month, and yet she worried after him as if he were one of her very own students. If only he were as considerate of those around him as Mouri Ran was, then looking after him wouldn't be something that she was almost entirely certain was causing her to go gray early.

"There's plenty of need." Heiji protested, folding his arms in front of his chest. "I've already decided anyways."

He hadn't, of course, told her that he would be going to investigate the matter with Conan. The shrunken detective had already warned Heiji to not let any information about his true identity leak to the FBI, at least not at the moment. Of course, that included that Haibara girl as well, and Heiji had every intention of keeping that promise.

As best he could. He wasn't a complete idiot, he knew full well that even though his skills at lying had developed somewhat over the past six months, he was still lousy at it. Better to lie through omission than attempt to string a story together about why he was bringing the boy from Mouri Kogoro's detective agency with him. Lying through omission he could more or less handle.

Heaving a sigh, Jodie tapped a finger against the table, before she finally relaxed her shoulders somewhat, though her expression grew no less stern. "I said that I was against it. I didn't say that you couldn't go, Hattori-kun. After all, we're not trying to keep you prisoner here."

Sometimes she got the impression that he felt that way, however easy as his relationship was with her.

Watching as his eyes light up like a kid on Christmas morning, Jodie couldn't help but allow a hint of a fond smile to grace her face- before she slid a stern expression back in it's place, as if lecturing a troublesome student. " _But_ ," Jodie began, her sharp tone reigning back Heiji's enthusiasm somewhat. "...you have to promise to remain in contact with me, Hattori-kun, and pass on whatever you learn to us as soon as you can. None of this running off without telling anyone where you're going."

"I got it!" Flashing her a wide grin that made Jodie wonder if he really did understand, Heiji all but jumped to his feet. "In that case, I'd better start gettin' ready! Ya got a bag or somethin' that I can borrow, Jodie-han? I'll probably be spendin' a day or two a the very least over there."

"You're leaving on Wednesday, correct?" Jodie asked, watching as he nodded his head. "I don't have anything that would suit your needs right now, but I'll pick up a bag after school. Will a duffel do fine?"

"Oh, thank ya, Jodie-han!" Judging from the way that Heiji perked up, he was clearly grateful for the offer. "But ya don't have ta do that much on my account. I'm already freeloadin' off ya anyways."

"No, it's quite alright." Jodie said simply, casting him a small smile. "Supporting one extra person is hardly a drain on my resources. If anything, I'd like to do something about that ragged looking wardrobe of yours. I could give you an allowance, you know. You could buy yourself some new clothes with it, if you like."

"It's fine, it's fine." Waving a hand, Heiji quickly began gathering up what he _did_ currently own, stacking them on a very small pile on Jodie's couch. It wasn't much, really. He'd had more when he'd set out, but had lost a considerable amount of his belongings in the process. His funds included what money remained from what he'd taken with him from when he'd left Osaka, which wasn't very much, and whatever money he managed to chance across during his travels- which thankfully had turned out to be a little more than anticipated. Thank god he'd discovered his ability was immortality and not just healing really fast pretty early on, or he would have blown a countless amount of cash he could have saved for train fare on food that he didn't _technically_ need to eat.

Well, granted, being immortal didn't mean that he _couldn't_ starve, it just meant that he wouldn't _die_ from it. He'd never disclosed that particular aspect of his previous lifestyle to Jodie, knowing full well that she'd give him the same lecture that Yui had when she learned that he valued money for transportation over money for food.

"I've already gotten used ta it. Just havin' a place ta come back to at the end of the day is already pretty great! Sleepin' underneath the open sky really isn't all that it's cracked up ta be." Heiji noted, glancing over at her with one of his usual broad grins, watching as a look of concern crossed her features. "Well, it wasn't all bad, ya know. S'not like exposure to the elements can kill me, anyways."

"You've really got to stop thinking that way all the time, Hattori-kun." Jodie said, a slight frown on her face. "It's not good for you."

"It's fine, it's fine." Heiji was quick to reassure her. Well, that kind of worry was normal. Rather, it was _his_ way of thinking that had grown too different. He wasn't certain if it was just his immortality in and of itself, or if it was what he had endured underneath Absinthe that had done it, or both, but either way, death had become an increasingly meaningless concept to him.

It _probably_ wasn't the best kind of viewpoint for a detective to have, and he had to constantly remind himself that for literally everyone else in the world, once they died, there would be no coming back. Granted, he didn't think he'd ever forget that fact, but keeping it fresh in his mind nevertheless seemed like a good idea, even if it did give him a unpleasant sense of alienation.

Heaving an exasperated sigh, Jodie rubbed her forehead, before she shook her head, getting to her feet. She knew full well that his ability had probably altered whatever previous relationship he might have had with the concept of death, and it wasn't something that she was going to pretend that she understood. "How do you feel about pizza tonight, Hattori-kun? Honestly I don't feel all that much like cooking."

"Sounds good!" Heiji glanced over at her, his grin only growing. "It's been awhile since I had pizza. Don't put anythin' weird on it, okay?"  
___________________________________________________________________

There was something about Amuro Tooru that he just didn't trust.

It was hard to say what it was that made him feel that way- perhaps it was just the timing of his appearance, or perhaps it was the assessing way that the young man had studied him the first time that they had met. Either way, Conan got the distinct feeling that there was more to him than just what he let on.

Still, it wasn't enough to make him reconsider his plans with Heiji. The matter regarding Absinthe was far more pressing than any mysterious part-timer who had shown up out of the blue. He didn't even know that Azusa _had_ been looking for help.

Granted, Conan didn't quite appreciate the friendly way that Amuro chatted Ran up. But that was pretty much nothing more than petty jealousy coming from a young man in love, which he very much was, however much he liked to deny it sometimes. He _sincerely_ doubted that whatever Amuro's intentions, he had any interest in a girl ten years his junior. He was just being polite.

It _did_ cause his thoughts to drift towards Heiji's own childhood friend for a moment, briefly wondering exactly how it was that Heiji felt about her. Toyama Kazuha seemed like a rather nice, cheerful girl, from what Conan had gathered, and he liked her well enough, and was more than grateful that Ran had been able to make another friend. Especially with someone who could relate to her on the issue of having a wayward high school detective childhood friend.

Not that he wanted to be missing, exactly, but rather, it was entirely because he had no choice. If the decision were left entirely up to him, he would have probably told Ran that he was Kudo Shinichi a long time ago- but he had to admit, the Professor did have a point. Ran might have super strength, but it wasn't as if she was invulnerable, and he didn't want to put her in any danger.

No doubt Heiji felt the same way about his own childhood friend- all the more so because he already knew that there was someone from that Organization that had been close to them all this time. From the sound of it, they'd even been on good terms before he'd learned in the worst way possible that she wasn't who she said she was, which probably made it all the more painful.

Kurosawa Ayame was the name that Heiji had given him. Thinking back on it, Ran had mentioned the name during their trip to Osaka, describing her as a tall woman who initially gave off an imposing presence, but had quickly revealed herself to be rather friendly. Judging from the fact that she was actually a member of the men in black, he doubted that was her true nature- and if, in fact it _was_ , that only made her all the more terrifying in Conan's opinion.

Anyone who could kill you with a smile on their face was bad news.

Heiji might have had a real name to give to Ginger, provided that her identity wasn't a highly crafted lie, but he had nothing to give him in so far as Absinthe was concerned. He'd kept his ears open for any hints regarding her real name while he was imprisoned at her lab, but he'd heard nothing of the sort. He'd described her as probably being mixed, so even if they started looking into cases where a woman receiving horrible burns on her face from a fire, there was no telling that they'd ever turn up anything on her. It was entirely possible that she had that scar since childhood even, which meant they'd have to try and dig through at least fifty years worth of records- provided that she hadn't gotten the scar overseas to begin with, in which case, they'd _never_ find anything.

Ai had racked her brain once more once he'd passed the new information along to her, but she could only shake her head. Her burn scar probably explained her aversion to smoke, but that was hardly a mystery. Given that she'd blown up her own lab, she either could handle fire itself just fine, or had learned to put up with any ensuing phobia she might have developed over the years- which still wasn't giving them anything to go on.

He'd asked Heiji to try and press Jodie for details of how they had learned the location of their lab in the first place. He assumed that it was in the same way he'd learned about the location of it- from a former employee of Absinthe's, who was probably long dead by now. She seemed to employ a small staff of non-Organization members to work at her lab with her, assisting her with her research- although Heiji hadn't seen much of them at the time, being her 'pet project' so to speak. After what happened, he doubted that she continued with this practice any longer.

There were a lot of things on the mind of the shrunken detective as he started his day. Tomorrow he would head out to Nagano and meet up with Heiji there, and they would promptly head the location where that photo had been taken. His Nagano contact had assured him that the police investigation was already over, though they hadn't been able to turn up anything more. Still, it was worth going to check out for themselves, even on the off chance that it could be a trap.

No, rather, it was _because_ it could have been a trap, that they needed to check it out.

But for today, Conan just needed to focus on getting through the day- and maybe figuring out what that Amuro guy's deal was. Narrowing his eyes a little as he watched Ran laugh at something he'd said, before excusing herself, telling him that she had to head to school now, Conan had to fight to keep the sneer off his face, even as the young man glanced down at him, giving him a rather placid smile.  
___________________________________________________________________

Amuro had expected that speaking to Aoko wouldn't be much of a problem- what he _hadn't_ anticipated was the aggressive tone he would get from the young boy around her age that was with her at the time.

"What do you want with Aoko?"

"Like I said, I'm a detective. My name is Amuro Tooru." Amuro said simply, holding up his hands, trying to give off an impression of harmlessness. He wasn't planning on harming the girl in any way, of course, he just wanted to speak with her about the matter at hand. "I only wanted to speak with Nakamori-san about the incident that she was involved in the other day. I'm trying to solve the mystery of the abducted teenagers myself."

"It's alright, Kaito." Aoko said lightly, chiding her friend. "If he was really a bad person, the police officer over there would have never let him come speak to Aoko."

Third person? She was a little too old for that sort of thing, wasn't she? Amuro blinked slightly at that, but brushed it aside. "That's correct. I promise, I don't mean your girlfriend any harm."

Watching the way the pair turned a bright shade of scarlet, each spewing out an excuse as to why that couldn't possibly be the case, Amuro frowned slightly. He had been certain he wasn't off the mark, and yet...

"Bakaito's just Aoko's childhood friend!" Aoko protested. "We're not like that!"

"Ah, is that so?" Amuro asked. "My apologies then. I just assumed that from the way he was being so protective of you... but I can see that I was mistaken." He said simply, a rather placid smile crossing his face. "If it's no trouble to you, Nakamori-san, do you suppose you could tell me about the events from the other day?"

"Sure, Aoko doesn't mind." Aoko said after a moment, slowly nodding her head. "Aoko is afraid that there's not much to tell, though. But Aoko is worried about everyone else, so she'll help you any way that she can, if you're looking into this!"

"Thank you." Giving her a polite nod, Amuro carefully listened to her story, unable to help but notice that the one by the name of 'Kaito' was glowering at him the entire time, half waiting for him to make any funny moves. The overprotective type, this one was. It must have chafed at him that his childhood friend had come so close to danger, and that he hadn't been around to help her.

Most likely it was why he was clearly overcompensating now.

Aoko's story was pretty much word for word what he already knew- that she'd noticed someone following her, and had run away. He'd already spoken with a number of people before her, of course, and he couldn't help but notice that she left out a curious detail in her story- that there had been someone who had aided in her escape. It wasn't a detail that was on the police record, of course, likely because she had left it out of her explanation at that time as well. It was something he'd only heard from witness testimony.

For what reason was she avoiding mentioning the boy who had helped her out? As it was, he had something of a suspicion.

If Test Subject 001 really _was_ who he suspected it was, then naturally, he would have been looking into the matter as well. If anything, this entire theatrical affair was part of a trap to lure him back out into the open- that much he'd already been able to deduce, though it didn't give Amuro all the answers that he sought. If she was trying to trap him, there were plenty of other, less attention-catching things that she could have done- for whatever reason, Absinthe had become interested in those who potentially held Powered abilities, and needed them for some reason.

He couldn't help but grimly wonder what would happen _after_ she no longer needed them.

"I see. That sounds like quite the ordeal." Amuro replied, giving the young girl a charming smile, before he reached into his pocket, pulling out a photograph, one that he'd clipped from a news article. "Pardon me for asking this, but a witness I spoke with earlier also described another young man on the scene with you, who appeared to assist you. Do you know anything about him?"

"N-no, Aoko knows nothing." Aoko said, shaking her head. "Are you sure they weren't mistaken?" She really didn't like lying like this, but Heiji had told her that he was a runaway, and there was probably a good reason for that! She wasn't going to say anything that would lead to him being taken back home, especially if he'd run away from a bad situation.

"Are you certain?" Amuro asked, showing her the photograph. "It wasn't this young man?"

From the way she visibly reacted to the photograph, he knew that he had hit his mark. What he didn't expect, however, was her companion, who had otherwise be silently glowering at him all this time, to finally speak up, shoving himself in front of the girl. "She said she didn't know anything, Amuro-san." Kaito spoke up, keeping his voice rather low. "And she's been through a trying time recently. Why don't you let her be?"

"Yes, of course." Amuro said simply, tucking the photograph back away, giving Kaito a rather disarming smile- one that didn't work on him, he noted, as if he could see right through it. "Do pardon me."

Taking that as his cue to excuse himself, Amuro carefully made his way down the street, feeling Kaito's eyes burning into the back of his head up until he turned the corner. What a curious lad, that one was.

"Don't talk to that guy again, Aoko." Kaito said shortly, glancing back towards her.

"Why not?" Aoko blinked, tilting her head slightly. "Aoko thought he was a nice person. You're too suspicious, Kaito."

"Just take my word for it." Kaito said, not relaxing until the young man was out of sight. Aoko might not have been able to pick up on it- but he knew a poker face when he saw one, and that guy? Had one _hell_ of a poker face.

Something told him he was _more_ than a mere detective.  
________________________________________________________________________

"What are you doing here, Jodie-sensei?" The question was light on Ran's lips, a surprised but pleased tone at seeing the woman who was quickly becoming one of her favorite teachers completely by chance. She had been at the local luggage store, trying to pick a replacement for her overnight bag- the strap had torn while she was in Osaka, and she'd been meaning to get it replaced when she returned home.

"Looking for a bag." Jodie said lightly, smiling at the student that she had become so fond of. Vermouth's photograph of her had been curiously labeled 'Angel'- something that she came to understand a little bit better the more she got to know Mouri Ran. Certainly, she very much seemed to fit that description- a kind and gracious girl- and a strong one as well, given her tournament record. "Are you looking for one yourself, Mouri-san?"

"Yes." Nodding her head, Ran flashed her a bright smile. "The strap on mine broke the other day, so I was looking into buying a new one."

"Is Conan-kun not with you today?" Jodie asked, glancing around her, spotting no sign of the bespectacled boy lingering around her. They usually walked home from school together, she knew, whenever Ran didn't have practice.

"No, he's playing with the other Detective Boys today." Ran told her, shaking her head. "He's leaving tomorrow for a little while actually, to see his mother. He's really excited about it too! It's been awhile since he's been able to see her last."

"His mother?" Jodie asked, blinking a little, before smiling a bit. Given the way that he always acted like he was wise beyond his years, it was actually somewhat cute to hear that he was just as excited as any child would be to see his mother after so long. "I see. That's good. I'm sure he puts on a good face, but he probably misses her."

"That's what I've always been thinking myself." Ran said, pausing to check the price on a bag, before quickly letting go of the tag. That one was definitely _way_ out of her price range. "He always tries to act so grown-up, so it's nice to see when he can act his age for a change."

It was part of the reason why, silly as it sounded, she had sometimes actually suspected that he was Shinichi on occasion. Thinking back on it, her earlier suspicions all seemed so silly. Even if they lived in a world where people like her had been born with strange powers, there was no way for Shinichi to have suddenly turned into a child. She already knew what his ability was, after all, and it wasn't that.

"You won't be lonely without him around?" Jodie inquired, a hint of a grin on her face. She knew that the two of them were rather close- and if she didn't miss her guess, she was almost certain that Conan had something of a crush on the girl who had become his temporary guardian. It was cute, really.

"A little bit." Ran admitted, giving her a small smile. "I've already gotten used to having him around the agency before I even realized it. When his mother suddenly brought him back after arriving to take him back home that one time, I was actually a bit happy."

Well, it wasn't like she couldn't understand that. She didn't know about lonely, but it was certainly going to be quieter without Heiji around her apartment for the next few days. Come to think of it though, he was leaving tomorrow as well...

It was probably just a coincidence. Even if he really had befriended Conan like she suspected that he might have (and was lying about, badly), there was no reason to suspect that he'd be bringing a seven year old boy, however clever he was, with him to investigate something about that Organization. Still, it might serve her well to pay attention to when exactly Conan returned from visiting his mother- from the way that Vermouth seemed to be interested in him, she couldn't help but think that there was something more about him than she knew.

"Well, I'm sure he'll come back soon enough." Jodie said, giving her a light pat on the shoulder, deciding on what duffel bag she thought Heiji would like. "And then things will get noisy around your place again."

"Well, my father will still be there, so it's not like it's going to suddenly become quiet or anything." Ran told her.

"That's certainly true." Jodie admitted after a moment, paying for her bag. "Well then, Mouri-san, I'll see you at school tomorrow. Don't forget about the homework I gave you!"

"I won't!"


	14. Intersect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Kaito is greeted by the last person he expected to see in Nagano, Conan and Heiji arrive and make arrangements to head to the scene of their only lead to Absinthe, unaware that they're standing on the brink of an intersection of paths, that are getting ready to collide.

"You are exactly three minutes, fifteen seconds late, Kuroba-kun."

Kaito felt his bag dropping from his shoulder in shock, though he didn't quite process it fast enough to stop it. Staring open-mouthed at the unexpected young man before him, he quickly turned his head back towards Aoko, quickly shutting his mouth when he recognized that look on her face. She'd mentioned something about there being a surprise for him in Nagano, but _never in a million years_ could he have imagined that it would be none other than high school detective, Hakuba Saguru.

"W-what is Hakuba doing here?!" Kaito finally spat out, pointing an almost accusatory finger at the half British detective. That guy was nothing but trouble when it came to heists, and as much as Kaito was willing to admit that sometimes he enjoyed the challenge, he would have preferred it when he didn't already have plenty of other things on his plate.

"Aoko called him." Aoko said simply, carefully picking up Kaito's fallen bag and handing it back to him, which he slowly took from her. "Aoko thought he might be able to help."

"I was quite concerned when I heard about what nearly happened to Nakamori-san." Hakuba replied simply, taking a step closer to her than Kaito would have liked, carefully taking her hand in his own, giving it a light kiss in greeting. "Rest assured, Nakamori-san, I'll get to the bottom of the matter very quickly."

"What, so he's _not_ here about Kid?" Kaito asked, blinking a little. Even though he knew full well that Hakuba investigated plenty of things outside of matters relating to his heists, it was easy to forget sometimes. He'd only crossed paths with him once when the high school detective was investigating something other than a theft- and what a case that had turned out to be, Kaito thought to himself, recalling the events of that supposedly cursed manor with a slight shiver.

"Oh no, rest assured Kuroba-kun, I'm here about that matter as well, since he happens to be coming to the area." Hakuba told him with a tight smile, locking eyes briefly with the one that he was almost certain was none other than Kaito Kid himself. "However, Nakamori-san's matter is _far_ more pressing, and takes precedence over Kid."

"Well, I can't really argue with that." Kaito said with a slight shrug, effortlessly breaking eye contact with him. He didn't want to admit it out loud, but having Hakuba around was somewhat comforting, actually. He'd be sure to have a proper discussion about the matters regarding Aoko a bit later on, when she wasn't around herself. He definitely wanted to bring up the matter of the two mysterious dark skinned young men who had recently shown up around her- the one who had introduced himself as Takahara Heiji, and the other who had given his name as Amuro Tooru.

Both of which were aliases, if Kaito's instincts didn't miss their mark.

"But thank you for coming out all this way, Hakuba-kun!" Aoko chirped, smiling up at him. "Aoko knows you're usually busy with this and that, so she's pretty happy that you were able to make it on such short notice!"

"But of course." Hakuba told her, placing a hand over his heart, giving her the slightest of bows. "I would come rushing over from anywhere in the world should anything happen to you or any of my classmates. Even Kuroba-kun here."

"Well thanks." Kaito said dryly. "How much longer are we going to hang around the train station anyways? For someone whose so nitpicky about time, I thought you'd be rushing off us to the police station to meet Aoko's escort already."

"Oh yes, you're quite right." Hakuba noted, glancing briefly down at his wristwatch. "Do forgive me. Even I tend to lose track of time when reuniting with those I haven't seen in awhile. Who is this officer who is supposed to meet us?"

"A female police detective named Uehara Yui." Aoko reported. "Most of the officers that dad works with are men, so Aoko's looking forward to meeting her! Aoko has seen a picture of her before, and she's really pretty!"

"Pretty, huh?" Kaito blinked. Well, whatever. As long as Aoko was happy, that was for the best. Besides, he was quite certain that they wouldn't have selected anyone who didn't know what they were doing for this job, given the stakes involved. There was no telling if the person who was behind the kidnappings would make another move on Aoko after their first attempt failed, but it was better safe than sorry.

Still, it couldn't continue like this forever, Kaito thought. Aoko couldn't be escorted around, watched night and day, by the police for the rest of her life. Maybe he should have tried becoming a high school detective himself, he couldn't help but think. Maybe then he'd have an easier time getting to the bottom of this and resolving the situation- but as it was, he'd just have to, somewhat frustratingly, rely on Hakuba's abilities.

That said, it didn't exactly mean that Kaito planned on sitting around and doing nothing. The great phantom thief, Kaito Kid, could just as surely steal a concept as intangible as the truth if he put his mind to it, of that he was _quite_ certain.  
__________________________________________________________________

"Oh, there ya are, Kudo. I was startin' ta think ya had gotten lost." Glancing down at the shrunken detective, Heiji flashed him a wide grin, the white of his teeth standing out even as the shadow of his hood fell over his face. "Did ya have ta find any nice police officers an' ask them fer directions?"

"I did not." Conan grumbled, glowering up at the Osakan detective. One of these days he was going to return to his original height- and then he'd have some words for Heiji, even if he did get the feeling his western counterpart would still be taller than him. "I'm not a kid, you know."

"Sorry, sorry, ya look so much like one, I can't help it." Heiji told him, kneeling down and ruffling his hair, unable to help but laugh at the way Conan swatted his hand away. "Don't get mad at me, Kudo. I could have just gone off on my own without tellin' ya anythin', right? But that little Neechan's right- the two of us are probably better off workin' together on this case."

"Well, you're not wrong about that." Conan said, heaving a slight sigh. "So? You're the one who knows Nagano a little better than I do, Hattori. Where do we go from here? Straight to the scene?"

"No, no, first we go to where we'll be stayin'." Heiji told him, giving him a dismissive waved of his hand, adjusting the strap of his bag. He still thought it was awfully generous of Jodie to go out of her way to buy a new one for him, but he had to admit, it was better than trying to port around his clothes in a shopping bag, even if what he owned at the moment could fill one with room to spare. If anything, this bag was almost too big for his stuff, he thought to himself. "An' then we'll go look at the scene."

"Are we staying with this Uehara Yui person?" Conan asked, glancing up at him.

"No, she's got something to attend to at the current moment. Something about an Inspector's daughter an' keepin' an eye on her." Heiji told him. He had a feeling that the Inspector's daughter in question was probably none other than that Nakamori Aoko girl- he had read something somewhere that Kid was planning a heist tomorrow, so it would appear that out of worry, the Inspector who was in charge of the Kid Task Force had brought his daughter with him. "In place of that, she made us hotel arrangements. Fer the time bein', yer goin' ta be my nephew, Kudo."

"What a _thrilling_ development in my life story." Conan's blunt tone matched his dry expression, one that almost caused Heiji to pout. "What part of us looks like we're related anyways?"

"It's okay, it's okay. People really don't question that sort of thing that much." Heiji told him, giving him a slight wave of his hand. "Uehara-han looks nothin' like me, an' we managed to fly by on clamin' to be related more than once, so don't worry about it too much, Kudo."

"You sound like you've lived a rather interesting life in the past six months, Hattori." Conan couldn't help but observe. "Well, a hotel's fine, I guess. I'm more worried about _your_ ability to keep a low profile than my own, really."

"That's cold, Kudo." Heiji said with a slight frown. "I've been in hidin' fer six months or so, not countin' the two weeks I was in custody, an' I've been doin' just fine on my own. Not even my old man's found me, an' he's definitely been lookin'."

"It's that two weeks of custody part that has me worried." Conan pointed out, quirking a brow. "There's also the fact that this could still be some kind of trap, Hattori, so you really should try and be a little bit careful."

Well, given what he'd heard about the Osakan detective from both his childhood friend and his parents alike, his habit of rushing into things without too much of a plan wasn't exactly anything knew. In that sense, maybe being immortal actually suited him- if only because it prevented him from experiencing the consequences of most of the reckless action that he took. At least, the consequences that were directly tied to him- somehow he got the feeling that Heiji was the type of person who was all the more likely to dive into danger if someone he cared about was at risk.

Well, it wasn't like he couldn't say the same thing about himself, though.

"It'll be fine, don't worry so much about that sort of thing." With Heiji's reassuring grin being the only feature that he could make out, Conan was left guessing at what kind of expression his eyes carried in them. "At any rate, I promise ta get ya back home ta that Neechan of yers safe an' sound. I would never come between a couple of young lovers, after all!"

"It's not like that!" Conan couldn't help but sputter at the sudden change of topic, his cheeks turning a bright shade of red. "Ran and I aren't like that at all, Hattori! We're just childhood friends. You know, like you and Kazuha-san?"

"If ya say so." Heiji told him, looking somewhat unconvinced. "Well, we've both got it tough though, in concerns to childhood friends though, huh? Ya've got ta keep yer secret from that Neechan, an' I can't show my face ta Kazuha, or risk gettin' her involved. Some luck we have."

"You could say that again." Conan noted, briefly glancing up at him, eyes narrowing slightly. If there was one thing he hated about this height, it was that it could make it difficult for him to see people's eyes sometimes- especially when they were actively trying to hide them, like Heiji was. "Well, at the very least I can see Ran pretty much every day. When was the last time you even saw Kazuha-san?"

"Six months ago." Heiji said simply, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, I'll probably have ta endure one of her long lectures when I come back home, so I'm not in a hurry ta rush back an' hear it."

"You _really_ _do_ suck at lying." Conan noted, turning his attention away from him, folding his arms behind his head.

"Ah, ya could tell?" Punctuating his question with a laugh, Heiji tucked his hands into his pockets. "I guess ya could say that I miss her. Well, we've been together pretty much since we were babies, so it's not like we've ever been apart fer this long before. From the sound of it, she's been havin' a pretty hard time as well. I'd give her a call, if I could, but I don't really have that option."

"Sorry, Hattori." Conan told him with a frown, earning him a befuddled look from the Osakan.

"What fer? It's not like ya've done anythin' yerself, Kudo." Heiji told him, tilting his head slightly.

"Just sorry in general." Conan told him, shadowing his own expression with a glint of his glasses. Mostly, he was just apologizing for ever speculating that Heiji might have been luckier than him. How would he have managed it if their situations had been reversed, and he wasn't able to see Ran, even though he wanted to? As much as he denied it when Heiji asked, he was definitely in love with her, and living with her had only cemented said feelings.

He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be apart from her for so long, and not even being able to so much as call her. Ran was already worried about him enough as it was, even with the occasional phone calls, he couldn't imagine how she'd take it if he'd just vanished without a trace.

"Yer a bit weird, Kudo." Heiji told him with a slight shrug.

"You're a fine one to talk, Hattori."  
_________________________________________________________________

"Uehara, that kid you're supposed to look after for the next few days is here."

"Oh, is she?" Glancing up from her paperwork, Yui cast a small smile at the one who had called out to her. "Thank you for letting me know, Kan-chan."

"How many times do I have to tell you, it isn't _Kan-chan_." Letting a more than slightly disgruntled noise escape from his lips, Yamato Kansuke glanced back at the trio of teenagers that had just entered the Nagano police headquarters. The girl in the center of the group, being flanked by two teenage boys who had apparently decided to assign themselves as her interim guard, was the one that Yui was supposed to mind during the next few days, while she accompanied her father to the upcoming Kid heist.

Frankly, the less Kansuke had to do with the likes of someone like that, the better. Flamboyant phantom thieves were at the top of the list of things that he had no interest in, and he couldn't be more grateful that he had his hands full with other, more important work at the moment- like following up on the lead of the sighting of the missing Saint of Russia, Maria Alkaev.

Not to mention identifying the mysterious woman that she had been with, something which he was having no luck in doing so. One would think that a woman with a noticeable burn scar on her face wouldn't be hard to miss- he knew full well that his own scars made him stand out from a crowd- but apparently, she was.

And to be quite honest, it was starting to tick him off, more than just a little.

To think that they were diverting some of their manpower away from the investigation because of some phantom thief clad in white- it bothered him more than a little, to say the least. Right now they needed all hands on deck- even though it was entirely possible that the woman and the missing girl had already long since left the Nagano Prefecture.

But what exactly was a girl who had gone missing in Russia doing in Japan? And for what reason? He got the feeling that there was something big going on here in the background, and he was determined to uncover what it was. And if he didn't miss his hunch, it had something to do with the other big story of recent times- the rash of kidnappings that had been occurring throughout Japan, as children who possessed the potential to develop abilities went missing one right after another. In fact, he wouldn't be at all surprised if it turned out that the culprit behind those cases, and the kidnapping of the Saint of Russia, were one and the same.

The only one that they knew who had escaped that fate was none other than the young girl here, the daughter of the head of the Kid Task Force, Nakamori Aoko. All things considered, she was probably extremely lucky, and he trusted that Yui would do well in looking after her.

Even if she had been behaving a bit oddly, ever since she joined the force again. He wasn't quite certain what prompted her to in the end, but after the death of her husband, she had ended up accepting his offer of rejoining the police force, and had returned to her maiden name of Uehara, putting her brief married life behind her. That in itself was fine, but if Kansuke's instincts didn't serve him wrong, and he doubted that they did, there was something that she was hiding from him.

Or _someone_ , really.

At first he just suspected that she was giving shelter to a runaway. It wouldn't have been unlike her, but the fact that she wouldn't talk to him about it no matter how much he pressed the matter suggested that something much more serious was going on behind the scenes. She tried to downplay it often, laughing off such accusations as if they were a silly joke, but Kansuke couldn't shake the feeling that maybe she'd gotten mixed up with something- or someone- that was dangerous.

Which wasn't an idea he cared for very much, however competent Yui was. He doubted that she was the type to let herself be pushed around or be tricked, but nevertheless, he sensed that there was a shadow of trouble around her. If he didn't make a mistake, it had all begun around four months ago- he'd noticed that there was signs of someone else residing in the grounds of the Torada family mansion when he had been there, even though none of the family members claimed to know anything about it- and he believed them. The traces had only briefly distracted him from the chain of serial murderers that had ensued, but he'd quickly been able to deduce that whoever this extra person was, they had nothing to do with the case at hand.

Although they had been snooping around it, when they thought nobody was looking, that much he hadn't missed. And whoever this extra person was, they'd gone along with Yui when she had left the Torada family and had moved into an apartment of her own- although sometimes they would leave for weeks at a time. In fact, he hadn't noticed a trace of them for the past month or so- although there was a two week period in which Yui seemed to be worrying about something, half on the verge of speaking to him about the matter, before whatever it was she had been concerned about had put itself to rest on it's own.

Not to mention that there was still the matter of the missing corpse from four months ago that hadn't been solved yet. He was pretty sure he'd seen the guy who might have been the one responsible for making it disappear- but considering that he didn't have the corpse on him at the time, it was a mystery as to where it could have gone.

It wasn't, after all, like the corpse itself could have just gotten up and left, regardless of the absurd ghost story that was now being whispered in the halls of headquarters.

_Something_ was going on, and he intended to find out _what_ \- and if he didn't miss his guess, that Koumei shared his sentiments.

He'd _also_ like to find out what exactly that bushy haired kid thought he was doing, watching him whenever he thought he wasn't looking. Sending him a sharp glare to silently tell him to knock it off, the teenager visibly flinched, before coughing in his hand, turning back towards that Aoko girl with a slight nervous laugh.  
________________________________________________________________________

In the privacy of their hotel room, Conan still couldn't believe that had worked. Nobody had even batted an eye when Heiji had claimed that the pale skinned child standing next to him was his nephew, and that they were checking in, under a registration for 'Takahara'. The fact that Heiji had a fake ID to go with the fake name didn't surprise Conan all that much, something like that could have been easily obtained through Jodie's channels, but he still couldn't believe nobody had questioned that story.

"See? What did I tell ya?" Heiji asked. He'd spent the first twenty minutes silently checking out the hotel room, before he'd confirmed that it was completely safe, and pulled down his hood, carefully removing his hoodie and tossing it on the back of a chair. "Anyways, from here, we'll be pickin' up a motorcycle that Uehara-hand rented in advance, an' headin' out to the small town that she mentioned. We should reach there in about an hour, if we make good time."

"So you _can_ ride a motorcycle." Conan noted, carefully placing his bag on top of his bed. Well, Kazuha had told him as much. "When did you get your license?"

"Around a year ago, now." Heiji noted, stretching a little now that he had a bit of freedom. "I always liked 'em since I was a kid, so I learned ta ride one first thing when I was able ta." Rubbing his shoulders a little, he glanced back at Conan, watching as he carefully checked through the contents of his suitcase. "So that Neechan thinks yer off with yer mom right now, right?"

"She does. And what's with that nickname anyways?" Conan couldn't help but ask, quirking a brow.

"She seems Neechan like." Heiji said simply, shrugging his shoulders. "What does it really matter? But thanks fer comin' with me, Kudo."

"Idiot, like I'd not come along for something like this." Conan said. "Besides, I'm half worried that if I let you out of my sight, you might disappear again. I want to see to it that you can return home yourself, Hattori."

"I'm touched." Heiji blinked, more than a little surprised.

"By the way, exactly what did you tell this Uehara-san about me in the first place? You must have mentioned _something_ , since her reservations included me." Conan noted, glancing over at him.

"I just told her that there was a kid in a similar fix as me, an' that he was comin' with me." Heiji told him, giving him a quick shrug of his shoulders. "Don't worry, I didn't tell her anythin' more than that. I know ya don't want yer identity leaked as much as I don't want my ability leaked. Give me some faith here, Kudo."

"Sorry, sorry." Conan told him, zipping his bag back up and shoving it back underneath the bed. "Did she always put you up at a hotel?"

"No, I pretty much just stayed over at her place before." Heiji told him. "It was easier when she was livin' in that big old family estate she lived in when I first met her, but after she went back to her maiden name after that whole serial killin' thing, she also moved out with that place. There were lots of places ta hide me that people wouldn't notice."

"Serial killing?" Conan blinked. "Ah, now that you mention it, I do remember reading something like that in the newspapers a few months ago. You around here back then?"

"Sure was." Heiji said. "Let me tell ya, Kudo, that Inspector Yamato that works with the Nagano police has sharp instincts. He came real close to catchin' me more than a few times while I was here. I sure had some troubles while I was still here."

"Is that the police Inspector you were telling me about? The one that's Uehara-san's childhood friend?" Conan asked. "Why not just open up to him too, if he's someone Uehara-san trusts?"

"Are ya kiddin' me?" Heiji asked, glancing back at him. "Ya obviously haven't seen that guys face, Kudo. Let me tell ya, that's not a face I can trust real easy, no matter _what_ Uehara-san says. 'Sides, he's also the one who found me as a corpse in the first place, an' the less I have ta explain ta people why I'm not dead anymore, the better."

And he was also the one who had caught him sneaking out of the examination room back at Nagano Prefectural Police headquarters, so there was that too. He hadn't gotten a real good look at his face, thank god, but that had been more trouble than it worth- Heiji had sworn he was going to get shot _again_ , and considering that he _still_ had a bullet lodged in him from the last time he'd been shot, he wasn't in any hurry to have that happen to him again.

Words could not describe how happy he'd been to get that bullet out of his internal organs, even if doing so had been the _exact opposite_ of fun.

Needless to say though, Heiji had no intention of ever running into the likes of Yamato Kansuke ever again- not if he could do anything to help it.  
_______________________________________________________________

"So? What was it that you wanted to talk to me about, Kuroba-kun?" Considering that Kaito spent most of his time trying to avoid him, he was more than a little surprised when he'd pulled him aside, telling him that he had something to discuss with the high school detective. Hakuba had been more than willing to hear him out, though- it wasn't hard to deduce what it was that he wanted to talk about.

"It's about Aoko." Kaito told him frankly, all but inviting himself all the way into Hakuba's hotel room and taking a seat in his only chair, leaving the half-British detective to awkwardly stand. "Or namely, the weird people that have been hangin' around Aoko recently."

"Weird people?" Hakuba asked, his brows raising. That surely caught his interest. "You have my attention."

"Good." With a curt nod of his head, a serious expression crossed Kaito's face. Now was not the time for pranks and teasing words, now was the time to seriously discuss what had been going on with someone that he knew could help. As much as he never had any intention of allowing the likes of Hakuba Saguru to catch him, he nevertheless trusted his skills as a detective. "In that case, I'll start with the most suspicious one."

"He told me his name was Amuro Tooru, and claimed that he was a detective investigating the case Aoko's gotten herself mixed up in. But I'm telling you Hakuba, there was something about that guy that was super fishy. He felt fake." Kaito told him, his brows furrowing as he quickly rattled off a description of the young man to him, carefully gauging Hakuba's reaction to see if it rang any bells. It didn't seem to, however. "I can't put my finger on what it was exactly, but there's something about that guy that I didn't like."

"Plus, he seemed strangely interested in the second suspicious guy I've seen around Aoko." Kaito told him, scratching the back of his head. "Although maybe that's a little rude of me, since from the sound of it, he did end up helping Aoko. He's the one we have to thank for her still being with us right now, after all."

"I didn't hear anything about that." Hakuba noted, a frown gracing his features.

"That's because Aoko didn't say anything. He asked her too, apparently. Claimed that he was a runaway or something." Kaito told him- and it was clear from his tone of voice alone that he didn't buy that story for one second. "The fact that he seemed to help Aoko is the only reason I'm calling him the less suspicious of the two, mind you. Unlike that Amuro guy, he was actively trying to hide his face, as if he didn't want anyone to get a real good look at him."

"But that Amuro guy seemed to know who he was, and had a photograph of him even- one that looked like it came from some kind of newspaper article." Kaito explained, leaning back in the chair. "Didn't even try to mask his Osaka-ben either."

"What did this person look like?" Hakuba asked, placing a hand against his chin, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Did you get his name?"

"He claimed his name was Takahara Heiji, but I bet that's a lie." Kaito said with a shrug- though he was unable to help but take note of the slight way the furrow of Hakuba's brow deepened as he mentioned the name, and he couldn't help but wonder if he'd hit on something. "Like that Amuro guy, he was also a dark skinned young man, though probably younger than him. From what I could tell, he had blue eyes, and dark colored hair, but he was shadowing his face with a hood, so it wasn't easy to make out. If the photograph that guy showed us was of the same person though, then he also had pretty thick eyebrows as well."

"And you said that he had an Osakan accent?" Hakuba asked. There was something about the image of a dark skinned young man with an Osakan accent that tugged at him- especially when it was combined with the name of Heiji. Quickly reaching for his phone, Hakuba carefully began to fiddle with it for a few moments, his actions quickly catching Kaito's attention, who made his way over towards the high school detective.

"Ah!" Tapping the photograph contained within the article that Hakuba had brought up on his phone, Kaito's eyes went wide. "That's him! That's _definitely_ the same guy!"

"Are you _certain_ , Kuroba-kun?" Hakuba asked, enlarging the photograph in question. "It was _really_ this person?"

"Yeah, I'm certain. I never forget a face, even one that I can't see well." Kaito told him with a quick nod. "Do you know him or something? Don't tell me he's really a bad guy after all."

"On the contrary." Hakuba shook his head. "Although I've never had a chance to meet him, my father has spoken of him from time to time before." Tucking his phone back into his pocket for the moment, a puzzled expression crossed his face. "His real name is Hattori Heiji, and he's a high school detective, the same as me. What's more, he's also the son of the chief of Osaka's police force."

"A high school detective?" Kaito blinked, half not expecting that answer. "But why would a high school detective from Osaka be in Ekoda?"

"That's a good question." Hakuba admitted. "Hattori Heiji has been _missing_ for the past six months, actually, although it seems that the media hasn't picked up on the story at all. I only heard about it secondhand from my father who looked into the matter after not hearing anything about any cases he'd solved for awhile."

"Missing?" Tilting his head in slight confusion, Hakuba's answer only seemed to confuse him all the more. Was his story about being a runaway actually true, then? No, somehow Kaito didn't think it was that simple. If it was just a simple matter of being a runaway, then he wouldn't need to hide his face as he had been doing, no matter how recognizable he was.

"Yes." Hakuba said, nodding his head. "Apparently he never returned home one evening, and when his parents checked his room, they realized that he'd taken a number of his things, including his wallet and several changes of clothes, and had left without so much as leaving a note behind. His father has been trying to downplay the story, though I'm not sure what his reasons behind that would be."

"Come to think of it, I did overhear him having a strange conversation on the phone. Something about being upset that someone had come to Tokyo, to bring him some important information. He also asked them if they were certain that nobody had noticed them doing this." Kaito recalled, his eyes narrowing. "You don't think this Hattori Heiji person is mixed up in all of this somehow, do you?"

"It's not impossible." Hakuba said, giving him a firm nod of his head. "It's possible that he might have caught wind of this before anyone else, and has been looking into it since then, but even so... if that were the case, why does his father not know anything? According to what my father said, Hattori Heizo has been searching for his son ever since he went missing."

"That is odd. Maybe there's a reason he can't contact him?" Kaito asked, folding his arms in front of his chest. This detective business was a little bit harder than he thought. "But I guess that he's not a suspicious guy after all. That's good to know."

"I didn't say that." Hakuba noted, glancing over at him. "Even a detective isn't infallible, Kuroba-kun, especially not a teenage one. Six months is a long time to be missing, and adding in the fact that he hasn't contacted his parents in this time, there's obviously _something_ going on here."

"Whatever the case, if you see him around Nakamori-san again, contact me right away, Kuroba-kun. I'd like to have some words with my fellow high school detective myself."  
__________________________________________________________________

Letting out a long breath as she finished off the contents of her water bottle, Kazuha paused to wipe sweat from her brow once more. There was nothing quite like a good session of aikido practice to take her mind off of her worries. When she could narrow her focus to just the opponent in front of her, she didn't have space for worrying about anything else, and it had becoming something of a way to relax for her.

With a quick smile, Kazuha waved to her fellow club members as they made their ways out of the dojo. Afternoon practice had seemed to blow by in a breeze before she'd even realized it. Setting aside her water bottle and glancing at the clock, she made a slight face- she had better start heading on home herself. Making her way to the locker room, she quickly changed out of her practice clothes, and into her school uniform, pausing briefly to check her phone- to notice that she had several new text messages.

"Oh, they're from Wakabayashi-han." She noted, flipping open her phone with a small smile. She wasn't certain how her classmate had talked her parents into it, but she'd managed to convince them to allow her to go to Nagano to see the Kid heist. Something about promising to visit her grandmother while she was there, if she recalled correctly. Just as she suspected, the first few messages were about her arrival in Nagano, with several attached selfies of the girl in question.

Still chuckling slightly at the previous photo she had just been sent, she almost didn't seem to notice that the tone of the girl's messages had all but suddenly changed, almost seeming to grow more urgent. It wasn't until she read her next message that Kazuha's laughter caught in her throat, her green eyes half not believing what she was reading.

_'I think I saw Hattori-kun???? Pictures to come, if I can catch him again.'_

And sure enough, when Kazuha scrolled down, there was a single photograph, one that had been taken in a hurry. Even in the middle of a crowd, even with his hood raised to conceal his face, Kazuha felt her heart stop, for a moment, all but forgetting how to breathe.

Because there was no mistake, she knew. Frozen in time in the image that she had received was that familiar grin that she had come to know so well. Although she couldn't see the person who was at the receiving end of it, she knew that there was no way that expression could belong to anyone _but_ the boy that she had grown up with, who she had known her whole life- until he'd disappeared from it without a trace, without so much as a warning.

It was only once he was gone that Kazuha had a chance to realize exactly what it was that he meant to her, and that realization was hitting her once again at full force at this brief glimpse of his face, the first she'd seen of it in the past six months. She almost didn't want to scroll away from the photograph to see what the next few messages were anyways- she had a feeling that she knew what they said already.

_'Sorry, Kazuha-chan! I lost him.'_

With a slightly shaking hand, Kazuha finally drew in a deep breath, before she dialed her father's number. There was no question in her mind about what she had to do now- this was what she had been waiting to hear all this time, and there was no way that she was going to let this chance slip her by. By the time the man answered, Kazuha had found her resolve in her, her voice not once wavering.

"Dad? I'm going to Nagano for awhile."


	15. Childhood Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In pursuit of Heiji, Kazuha arrives in Nagano and crosses paths with someone who might be able to give her a few answers. Meanwhile, Hakuba contemplates, and Heiji and Conan investigate.

Nagano.

Heiji had been spotted in Nagano. While the picture of him that she had been sent wasn't very clear, and her friend had lost track of him right after that, she didn't doubt that the grinning young man pictured in the photograph really was her childhood friend. There was no way that she could mistake that expression of his for anyone else's, after all.

He was alive and well, and that alone was enough to let some of Kazuha's worries slip away from her. It had been six months since she'd even heard so much as a word in regards to him, and she was starting to fear the worst- but it appeared that whatever it was that he was wrapped up in, for whatever reasons he'd chosen to disappear, he was still alive.

As soon as she had gotten home, she had packed her bag and readied herself to head to Nagano. Pulling out her cellphone, Kazuha pulled up the photograph of Heiji once more, her gaze lingering on that smiling face of his, one that was partially concealed within his hood. Did he have some reason for hiding his face now? Why was he in Nagano? He was obviously was with someone, so who was he with?

She could only hope that she wasn't too late, and that he hadn't slipped away from her again. Concentrating and narrowing her focus, Kazuha willed herself to teleport, using the photo mail she'd been sent as her guide. With her backpack firmly secured over her shoulders, and her parents already informed of her impromptu trip, as well as the reasons why, Kazuha teleported herself straight to Nagano, appearing in a small burst of light, to the surprise of the bystanders.

If only she could just as easily teleport herself to Heiji's side.

Landing neatly on her feet, Kazuha glanced about her surroundings, trying to place where she was. It was a fruitless effort, really- she'd never been to Nagano before, even though she'd used her ability to travel the world. Heiji had almost always been with her when she did so, hand in hand as they made use of her special power to see everything that anyone could possibly want to see, all without having to pay for airfare.

Technically, she supposed that also involved illegally crossing borders and entering countries without first going through customs, but well- who cared about things like that really? She'd never even gotten so much as a lecture about it from her father, who only advised her to travel safely and smartly, and be on the lookout for pickpockets, nor from Heiji himself, the would-be detective completely gung-ho about picking out where they should head to next. Kazuha mostly picked out their trips by the sights, but Heiji had always picked them out by his stomach.

They were fun times.

Before she knew it, six months had passed- nearly half a year- without a single word from Heiji. It was as if he had been spirited away, taken to a world beyond her reach, somewhere she couldn't follow him. Her ability wasn't half good enough to get there, even though she'd traveled around the world and back with it. The Statue of Liberty in New York, the Great Wall of China, the Louvre in Paris- countless sights and countless trips, and an endless sea of memories of her childhood friend.

Who she had only realized she was in love with once he disappeared. That was just her luck, really.

Frankly, she didn't know what it was that she saw in that reckless and impulsive idiot. Maybe it was the way he smiled whenever he solved a case, or the way he'd flip around the brim of his hat when he was starting to work one- a hat he'd left behind, alongside the charm that she had made for him, which even now, dangled from her cellphone. Two of a pair, the only two of them in the world, holding her well wishes and hopes within them- as well as a link from the chains of steel that had held them fast when they were children.

If she caught Heiji again, this time for sure, she wouldn't let him go.  
______________________________________________________________________

If Conan had to be perfectly honest, motorcycles were _not_ his preferred method of transport- especially not when he was this small. Although Heiji had told him to hold on tight to his back, it was very hard to do when his hands were so small, and his arms weren't nearly long enough to go all the way around his Osakan friend's waist. Still, he managed somehow, clinging to the fabric of Heiji's hoodie, his own helmet secure on his head.

Heiji had gotten directions to the small town that Maria and Absinthe had been spotted in from Yui, it seemed, and the two of them were on their way there. His hood lowered for once, depending on his helmet to conceal most of his face, they were making good time as far as Conan could tell, and would likely be there soon. They had agreed to park their motorcycle somewhere away from the area that the two of them had been spotted in, and walk to it the rest of the way, starting from there.

There was still a good chance that this could be some sort of trap. Yui had already passed along most of the investigation report of the investigation that the police had conducted. There wasn't much there- someone had spotted a woman matching the description of the scarred woman elsewhere in the town earlier in the day, but they didn't have a name for her, nor could they gather much about her from the one witness. The people who had been taking the photographs themselves hadn't noticed them until they developed the film, it seemed.

Nobody had seen Maria Alkaev beyond that.

"We're here, Kudo." Pulling his motorcycle to a stop in the parking lot of a convenience store, Heiji glanced back down towards his friend. "Glad ta see I didn't lose ya somewhere along the way."

"Of course you wouldn't." Conan grumbled to himself, carefully getting off the motorcycle and taking off his helmet. Setting said helmet down on the back of the motorcycle, he watched as Heiji carefully took off his own, his face only briefly exposed before he tucked on the cap that he'd brought with him, pulling it down low, and raised his hood back up. "Let's get started, why don't we?"

"Yeah. I'd like fer the two of us ta get back ta the hotel around sundown, so let's not waste any more time here." Heiji told him, flashing him a quick grin.

"Why?" Conan asked, the comment striking him as slightly odd. "Is there some reason we need to get back around then?"

"Ah, no." Nervously scratching his cheek, Heiji averted his gaze from him. "Drivin' in the dark is just a pain, that's all."

"Hmm." With a slight frown, Conan accepted that answer for the moment- though he still got the feeling that there was something Heiji was still hiding from him. He couldn't imagine what it was, really, unless it was just something that was unpleasant for him to talk about. There were probably any number of things that he did, now that he thought about it for a moment. From what little he could gathered about Heiji's time before he'd crossed paths with Jodie, the past several months he'd spent in hiding, even before he'd been captured by Absinthe, hadn't necessarily been kind to him.

"Why do ya think they came out all this way, though?" Heiji asked, folding his arms in front of his chest. "I doubt that she would have been so careless if her lab was around here, so I can't imagine that's it. But if that's the case, why did she have ta bring that girl out here in the first place? Was there some kind of reason fer it?"

"Maybe there was something that she needed her ability for?" Conan offered. "Well, it's hard to say with so little to go on. The fact that she didn't attempt to disguise Maria-san is strange as well. She's not exactly that hard to recognize, she's famous, after all."

"That's certainly true." Heiji mused, tilting his head to the side a little. Pulling out the copy of the photograph that he'd stowed in his jacket pocket, Heiji frowned, studying it once more. The police had more or less pinpointed where it had been taken, but they had trouble tracing their paths before they had arrived at the car. "It may very well be that this is some kind of trap."

"And if it is?" Conan asked, glancing up at Heiji, watching as a fierce grin surfaced from within the shadows of his cap.

"Then, I'm gonna face it head on." Heiji told him. "There's only so much sneakin' around a guy can do before he gets sick of it, after all."

"Just don't do anything reckless, Hattori." Conan advised him. "There's people waiting for you to come back home after all."

"What, it's fine." Tucking the photo back into his jacket, and his hands along with it, Heiji simply shrugged his shoulders. "What are they gonna do ta me at this point that they haven't already?" His words were punctuated with a slightly bitter sounding laugh, one that caused Conan's eyes to narrow slightly. "Besides, if I _do_ get captured again, I've got a reliable partner here who'll be able ta find me real easy. Isn't that right, Kudo?"

"I suppose that's true. But frankly, I'd rather you not go missing _at all_ , Hattori." Conan told him. He couldn't help but wish he would value his own well being more- but he supposed he really wasn't one to talk. And he didn't even have being immortal as an excuse. "But if you do, I will find you. That much I can promise you. I'd just rather it not come to that, so keep your guard up."

"Yes, yes, I'll be careful." Heiji promised him, before coming to a stop, glancing around their surroundings. The scenery around them was the same as it was in the photograph. "Looks like this is our startin' point."  
______________________________________________________________________

In truth, Hakuba was only half listening to the owner of the jewel that was the target of the coming heist, as he explained to the high school detective and the head of the Kid Task Force alike the measures that he'd already put in place to protect the jewel himself, hiring a private security firm just to see to it's safety from the moment he had gotten the notice from Kid. Judging from the emptied out state of his otherwise stately manor, it was quite obvious that he was in the process of moving out. By Friday morning, he would be on a plane, heading to his new home in Germany, it seemed. He'd be taking the Phoenix's Heart with him on the plane himself, not wanting to be separated from his most prized treasure.

The vivid red gem gleamed underneath the bright lights, as if there was a fire burning inside of it, a secure display having been hastily made for it. Even though it was something that had been put together in due haste, even a curious look could tell Hakuba that it had nevertheless still been made with great care. It would be something any ordinary thief would find next to impossible to crack- but Kaito Kid was no ordinary thief.

Still, Hakuba's thoughts were largely elsewhere. The news in regards to Aoko troubled him far more than any Kid heist. Of course, wanting to protect one of his fellow classmates was an important motive for him, as well as seeing to the return of all of the other kidnapped teenagers, who he could only hope were still alive, and seeing justice brought to the culprit behind all of this- but even he had to admit that he had something of an ulterior motive for wanting this case to be solved rather quickly.

 _His_ name was on that list, after all.

He'd never really mentioned it to anyone, seeing no reason to. If he never developed an ability in his life, it really didn't bother him much. He didn't need something like that to begin with, and there were any number of Powered Children whose abilities only further complicated their own lives. He certainly saw no need to bring it up in the middle of this panic, not wanting to earn the worry that it would doubtlessly bring from those around him. His housekeeper and father alike had insisted that he stay put in England while all of this was going on, but Hakuba had no intention of ever doing such a thing.

Nor did he have any intention of using himself as bait, mind you. A dangerous plan like that was doomed to failure from the very start- it simply wasn't worth the risk. One had to value one's own life, and if he put himself in danger only to get himself captured, then there would be very little he could do for those who were _still_ in danger.

Besides, somehow he doubted that remaining in England would have protected him very much. The other hot news story of the day after all, was the kidnapping of the Saint of Russia, and his instincts told him that it was very likely these two cases were related. It was a little too much to be a coincidence.

What Kaito had told him troubled him, weighing on his mind still. He'd tried to look up information about the so-called detective that had come to ask Aoko questions about the case- but he hadn't been able to turn up any records of this Amuro Tooru. The fact that he was asking questions about Hattori Heiji likewise roused Hakuba's interest- as well as his distrust. It was possible that his fellow high school detective had gotten himself involved in something very dangerous, and that something had everything to do with this case. Therefore, anyone asking questions about him likely wasn't someone that they could trust.

Even if he had some questions about _where_ Heiji's own allegiances lay in the midst of all of this. After vanishing without a trace for six months, to suddenly show up just in the nick of time to help Aoko avoid capture- there was something going on there. Given that he'd helped protect her, it was highly likely that he was working _against_ whatever culprit was behind the kidnappings, but it _did_ bring up the question- if that was the matter he was investigating, why did he vanish from Osaka over _six months ago_?

Purposefully hiding his face, giving out an alias instead of his real name, asking Aoko to not inform the police of his presence- not to mention the strange phone call that Kaito had overheard. These were all very suspicious actions. Was he hiding from someone? And if that much were true, then _who_?

He wasn't the _only_ high school detective to go missing recently either. Five months ago, a high school detective named Kudo Shinichi had also disappeared. There were rumors swirling around about his possible death- although when he'd contacted Inspector Megure of the Tokyo MPD, the man had admitted that he was certain Shinichi was alive- he'd seen him last month, in person, actually. He'd helped them solve a pair of cases, and then had seemingly disappeared again.

Were the two disappearances related? If so, why were the circumstances behind the two of them so different? What exactly had been going on in Japan since he'd last been here?

Hakuba had no answers to these questions, at least not at the moment. But he'd find them, make no mistake- that was what a detective did, after all. Whatever truth was hiding in the darkness, he would shed light on it for sure.  
____________________________________________________________________

"Eh? You used to be married, Yui-san?"

"That's right." Giving the younger girl beside her a slight smile, Yui admitted that much. "But he passed away several months ago now. That's part of why I decided to join the police force again in the first place."

"Ah, Aoko's sorry to hear that." Blinking a little, a deep frown set itself on her features. "Aoko didn't meant to bring up any bad memories."

"No, it's quite alright." Yui's smile grew reassuring. "I've already had time to get past it. I've been so busy in the past few months that I haven't really had too much time to dwell on it, actually, so don't worry about it too much, Aoko-chan."

She wasn't quite certain what to make of the task that she'd been handed by her superiors at first- to see to the protection of the daughter of the Kid Task Force, Nakamori Aoko, while she was here in Nagano with her father for the upcoming heist. She had heard from Heiji that he'd wound up helping her in the first place, so she couldn't help but marvel at the coincidence that had brought her here. At the very least, she was quite certain that it was a coincidence- she doubted that the phantom thief had any relation to the mysterious Organization that was acting behind the scenes.

The girl in question had turned out to be quite pleasant- a rather friendly girl, who didn't seem too shaken by what she had experienced. That was for the best, really. They had been accompanied by a young man who had introduced himself as her childhood friend at first, but he'd excused himself, claiming that there was something that he wanted to do while he was here- and another young man who she knew by his reputation as a high school detective.

Which made him the second she'd run into. She briefly wondered if he was familiar with Heiji, but decided not to bring it up. Officially speaking, the two of them had never met before. He too, had left himself, to examine the place where the upcoming Kid heist was going to take place. No doubt that with her job of escorting Aoko, she would wind up attending the heist herself- although her focus would not be on trying to catch the phantom thief, but keeping tabs on the Inspector's daughter.

With Heiji and his companion, who he hadn't told her much about, also in this city to investigate the appearance of Absinthe in a surrounding town, there sure were a lot of things going on in Nagano all at once. She couldn't help but feel slightly nervous about that- hopefully, nothing would go wrong. There were any number of things that could, really. Someone might try and take advantage of the crowds that a Kid heist drew in to slip away with Aoko, or Absinthe's sighting might have been a trap.

Or, she supposed, Kansuke could cross paths with Heiji. Granted, he'd technically already met him once- but that had been a _corpse_. She hadn't even been a part of the police herself at the time- it was pure chance that she'd encountered Heiji that night. He'd broken into a shed on the Torada family property, and was trying to remove a bullet from his gut when she had stumbled on him, checking out the strange light she had seen from within the shed- that had turned out to be his flashlight. It had been quite the startling meeting, all things told. It hadn't been long after that, that a search party from the police arrived, telling the members of her husband's family that they were searching for someone who they believed to be related to the disappearance of a corpse from police headquarters.

A young man, with dark skin and dark hair, who matched the description of the teenager she'd found in the shed, pulling a bullet out of an incision he'd made himself in his stomach, using an old pair of scissors he'd found in the shed to do so. An incision that had closed completely on it's own. At the time, she hadn't said anything, covering for the young man who had hid deeper in the shed, placing a finger to his lips and silently asking her not to say anything about him being there. When she didn't, he seemed to relax around her a little, and without thinking too hard about it, she asked if he had a place to stay. When he said no, she'd invited him to sleep in a spare room that nobody really went into- and that was the beginning of everything.

Maybe it was that look on his face when she had found him that prompted her into silence. Or maybe it was the fact that the police officer had told her that no, the young man hadn't been shot to his knowledge- but that _had_ been the manner of death of the corpse they had found. Several bullet wounds, including one to the gut where they were certain that there was still a bullet lodged inside of him. As a former police officer herself, putting two and two together, given what she'd witnessed, was not that hard. Whatever the case, even if his wound _had_ mysteriously healed itself, all she saw was a teenager who looked as if he hadn't eaten anything in awhile now, who gave off the impression that he'd spent too long running from something as it was already, without a safe place to set down his head for even one night. Even with the unnatural way his eyes gleamed under the silvery light that filtered into the dark shed, she didn't think he was someone dangerous- just someone in need of help.

There was no way she was going to throw him out. She wasn't that kind of heartless person.

Granted, she had no idea at the time what the _scale_ of the trouble that he'd gotten himself mixed up in was. Over time, he'd slowly come to trust her, and had opened up bit by bit to her- especially when he learned that she was a former police officer. It had taken her a week to get his name out of him, but when he'd finally given it, she knew it right away. She had seen it in the papers before, after all.

She also knew that he'd been missing for the past two months. That was when she first sensed that though the young boy was hardly dangerous in and of himself, there was still something _incredibly_ dangerous looming just beyond him. The conclusion she'd already drawn from the information that she'd been given, and what she had seen with her own two eyes, gave her plenty of reasons to suspect that this was true, long before he'd opened up to her about that. Whatever the case, she knew that there was no way that she could idly sit by and do nothing.

Honestly, she wanted him to trust and work together with Kansuke- if he learned the truth about what was going on, she didn't doubt that he would be willing to lend a hand. He'd probably get angry at her for getting involved in something dangerous without saying anything, but he'd help. But Heiji didn't trust him, and she wasn't about to go behind his back like that. As it was, he was already gradually starting to develop some trust issues of his own, in spite of the fact that he was working hard to not lose faith in people- she didn't want to do anything that would further them along.

It had been quite the ordeal, hiding him while the investigation into the serial killings involving the Torada and Tatsuo families had been going on. _Especially_ not with the way that Heiji insisted on butting his nose into the investigations, unable to keep away from the scent of a case going on around him. She was half worried he'd be mistaken for the culprit- but although Kansuke had definitely noticed the traces of him there, he'd nevertheless quickly concluded that the extra person in the Torada family manor had nothing to do with the murders.

When Heiji had vanished for two weeks without a word, she half considered telling Kansuke anyways, asking him to search for him with her. Just when she was about to, she finally got a phone call from him- and she had let out a deep breath of relief. One that had cut short when he all too casually revealed that he'd been captured by Absinthe for a while, but had managed to get away from her, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the FBI. He had laughed off her concern, telling her that everything was alright now, and that she didn't have to worry about him.

Honestly, it was no laughing matter!

"Oh?" Aoko's voice rousing her out of her thoughts, Yui looked up, following the direction of her gaze. "That girl's still there."

Easily picking out the girl that Aoko meant, Yui watched as the teenage girl's ponytail bobbed up and down as she shifted from person to person, exchanging a few quick words with them. Every time, she was given what seemed to be a negative response to the photo she was holding up, but each time, she kept picking herself back up and moving on to the next person. She had been there when they had come through this way an hour before, and she was still there now.

"Do you think she's in some kind of trouble?" Aoko asked, a frown on her features, before coming to a decision. "Aoko is going to go talk to her."

"Then, I'll come with you. If she _is_ in some kind of trouble, it's probably for the best that she speaks with a police officer." Yui noted. Waiting for the light to change so that they could cross the street to where the girl was, she made out the sound of an Osakan accent as they drew closer to her. It caught her ears right away, and for a brief moment, she was unable to help but think of Heiji's own.

Turning to notice the pair, the ponytailed girl headed their way, quickly seeming to zero in on them. "Excuse me?" She asked, holding up the photograph that she had been showing to everyone else who passed. "Have either of you seen this boy before?"

Oh. Oh goodness. Hoping her expression didn't falter too much, Yui took one quick look at the photograph, and recognized the person in it at once. It only took her a moment to recall some of the things that he'd let slip about his personal life before all of this started- chief among them about his childhood friend, Toyama Kazuha.

Her money was on this being the girl.

"No, I've haven't seen him." Yui told her, having to swallow back the truth. There was worry etched into her eyes- as well as a desperate hope. It probably _wasn't_ a coincidence that she was in Nagano at the same time Heiji was- she would have to send him a mail the first chance she got, telling him that much. She felt bad about lying to her, of course, but if there was one thing she had come to learn over the past four months, it was just how dangerous the business that her missing childhood friend was caught up in.

If Heiji learned she had let anything slip to this girl, he'd never forgive her.

" _Um!_ " Aoko spoke up, and Yui blinked- before she quickly recalled that she had, in fact, met Heiji before. That was why she was here right now, in fact. "This boy... who is he, exactly?"

"He's my childhood friend." Kazuha responded, lowering the photo a little. That desperate hope in those eyes seemed to dance somewhat in response to the unexpected question, a change in the negative responses that she had been getting up until now. Was there a chance that this girl had seen Heiji somewhere? "His name's Hattori Heiji. He went missin' six months ago, an' I've been lookin' for him ever since."

"Hattori?" Aoko blinked, unable to help herself. That was different than the last name she had been given- but there was no mistake that the boy in the photograph was the same one that she had met. That made this girl the second person that she had run into in the past two days who had been looking for him- there was also that Amuro guy from earlier as well.

Was that boy maybe mixed up in some kind of trouble? He _did_ say he was a runaway, and Aoko saw no reason to doubt him, but...

"Yes. Hattori Heiji." With a nod of her head, Kazuha locked eyes with her, a silent plea for good news in them. "Is there a chance that you've seen him somewhere before? _Anythin_ ' would be helpful information. Everyone's been worried about him so much."

Seeming to consider her next words, her gaze briefly flickering to the police woman by her side, before looking back towards the girl before her. A childhood friend? Briefly, she couldn't help but wonder how _she_ would feel if Kaito suddenly vanished from her life without a trace- and for six months at that! As much as they bickered, she would probably be doing the same thing this girl was.

"Actually, Aoko has." Aoko admitted after a moment, watching the girl's eyes light up like the sun breaking over the horizon. "Not that long ago, in Tokyo."

Biting her tongue and keeping herself from saying anything, Yui definitely made a note to include this information when she contacted Heiji next as well. This wasn't good- but there was nothing else she could do in this situation but go along with it. She didn't want either of the girls to get the wrong idea- so it was time to play the good police officer, who _definitely_ didn't know anything about the missing boy, and _definitely_ hadn't given him shelter for three months.

"Can you tell us a bit more about him?" Yui asked, reaching into her suit jacket and pulling out her police notebook. "I'm actually with the police myself. I'm Uehara Yui, and this girl is Nakamori Aoko."

"Toyama Kazuha!" Kazuha quickly responded, for a moment, tucking the photograph back into the bag she wore over her shoulder. "Have ya _really_ seen Heiji, Nakamori-han? In Tokyo?"

Had he still been there during any of the times she had visited Ran? Had she just missed crossing paths with him before? The chance that something like that might be true ate away at her, and frustrated her to no end. To think that she might have been that close to him all that time, and she'd never known it!

"Yes, Aoko has." Aoko told her, giving her a quick nod of her head. From the way the girl's eyes lit up, she knew that she was telling the truth about who she was. Kaito might have said that the Amuro person who had asked her those questions yesterday was suspicious, and even though she'd accused him of being too suspicious himself, she _did_ have to agree that he gave her something of an odd vibe. This girl, however, didn't. She just seemed like a worried childhood friend, searching for someone that she cared about. "He helped Aoko out a lot, actually."

"Is that so?" Kazuha asked, unable to help but smile a little at her words- and not just because she had finally- _finally!_ \- run into someone who had seen Heiji. No, it was because she couldn't help but feel a little proud that even now, Heiji was still butting his nose into people's business, and doing what he could. "Um, like I said before, he's my friend who went missin' from his home in Osaka six months ago. I got word that a friend had spotted him here in Nagano, so I came ta look into the matter myself."

"Was he kidnapped?" Yui asked, pulling out her police notebook and acting as if she was jotting down some notes. She wasn't, of course, not wanting to take that risk. She was writing tonight's shopping list, actually.

"I don't really know." Kazuha confessed after a moment. "When we checked his room, we noticed that he'd taken things like his wallet an' several changes of clothes with him, but he'd left behind his cellphone an' any IDs he had."

"Um, he told Aoko that he was a runaway." Aoko said after a moment. "But he seemed to be doing well!" She was quick to add- before half backtracking on that statement. "Although, the first time that Aoko met him, he seemed a little bit out of sorts. Like his head hurt, or something. Ah, but he said he was fine, though!"

"His head?" Kazuha blinked, a frown crossing her features- before something else about the girl's statement stood out to her. "The first time? Does that mean ya've met him more than once, Nakamori-han?"

"Twice, actually." Aoko told her, nodding her head. "Both in Tokyo, a week or so apart."

"If he ran away from home, was he having any trouble with his parents?" Yui asked, glancing down at Kazuha, who seemed visibly startled by the question, quickly shaking her head.

"No. I don't think so, at least." Kazuha told her. "His father could be hard on him sometimes, an' their relationship wasn't always the best, but I don't think it was so bad that it would have caused Heiji ta run away. He doesn't have that sort of personality ta begin with, really. He's the more confrontational type. I don't really think he would have run away."

"Actually, he's a high school detective. He's a bit famous, even." Kazuha said after a moment, a glimmer of pride working it's way into her features. "He's really sharp an' clever too!" Even as her face heated up slightly at her words, she didn't take them back. "So it's possible that he could have gotten himself mixed up in some kind of trouble because of that. At least, that's what I've been thinkin' happened durin' these past six months."

 _Your childhood friend knows you well, Hattori-kun_. As she thought that to herself, Yui closed her police notebook, tucking it back away. "Well, if he's really here in Nagano now, I'll pass word on to my fellow officers to keep an eye out for him. Would that be alright, Toyama-san?"

"Ah, yes!" With a quick nod of her head, Kazuha beamed at her. "Thank you very much, Uehara-han! Ah, just one second, I'll give ya my phone number so ya can call me if anythin' comes up!"

She hadn't felt this hopeful in ages, really. If everything really worked out, then maybe she could finally track down Heiji! And once she did, she was going to be _sure_ to give him a piece of her mind- and demand answers from him. Who did he think he was, worrying her and everyone else back home for so long? If he was stuck on some kind of hard case, why wouldn't he ask his father for help? That stubborn pride of his had it's limits!

Her gut feeling, however, told her that it had nothing to do with his stubborn pride. But she would much, much rather it be that than anything else. Because anything else was dangerous. She had laid awake at night sometimes, dwelling on the possibility of anything else.

She prayed that it wasn't anything else.  
_________________________________________________________________

For a brief moment, Conan swore he could see a rainbow glittering in the trail of water that Heiji had just spat out.

They had taken a quick break to grab a rather late lunch, the growling of Conan's stomach prompting them to. They had spent the better part of the afternoon asking questions, and searching the town for any trace of either Maria or Absinthe- and by and large, they had come up empty handed. They had found the witness that the previous police report had mentioned, and he had nothing new to tell them. Still, it did at least confirm beyond a shadow of doubt that she was here.

"W-what's wrong, Hattori?" Conan asked, blinking a little at this unexpected response to the message that he'd gotten on his cellphone.

"Kazuha, it's Kazuha." Heiji grumbled, scanning over the message again, rubbing his forehead. Shooting a message back to Yui to let him know he'd gotten hers, he heaved a long sigh, glancing over towards Conan. "She came ta Nagano, an' is lookin' fer me. Says that someone I know briefly spotted me here. Honestly, I didn't notice at all. When did that happen?"

What's worse, she was also talking to that Aoko girl- and that Aoko girl had told her that yes, she had in fact, seen him. Thankfully it didn't seem like she had given Kazuha any details of said encounter other than that he had helped her, but that was more than enough already. Granted, he was certain that Kazuha would be relived to hear that he was alive, but still... this wasn't a turn of events that he liked. What if she went back home and started asking new questions again?

"I didn't notice either." Conan admitted. Although he always kept his eyes open for that sort of thing, whoever it was that had spotted Heiji must have just been a normal person- perhaps a classmate or something. "What are you going to do, Hattori? You can't go meet her."

"I know that much, idiot." Grumbling to himself, Heiji shoved his phone back into his pocket, angrily munching on a fry. "Any chance ya can get back ta the hotel on yer own, Kudo?"

"Eh, are you abandoning me here, Heiji-niichan?" Conan asked, a childish tone to his voice, his eyes going wide in equally childish disbelief.

"...right. Okay, I get yer point, Kudo." Heiji grumbled a little, casting him an odd look. It was disconcerting how he could pull that sort of thing off. If he had been acting that way around him from the start, he might have not uncovered the truth about him so quickly. "Well, I'll think of somethin'. It's still a pretty big city, so there's no guarantee that we'll meet. Ya'd better keep yer head down too, Kudo. If yer here without yer mom wanderin' around with ya like ya said, Neechan'll get suspicious."

"I know." Conan said simply. "Although, Hattori... isn't Nagano also where you turned up as a _corpse_?"

From the way Heiji let his head thud against the counter, it seemed that this had briefly slipped his mind.

Ah, crap. That wasn't good.


	16. Gathering Threads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In hopes of helping Kazuha, Aoko brings her to meet with Kaito, who passes on the information that Heiji is in Nagano to Hakuba. And it appears that Kazuha's not the only person from Osaka heading towards the prefecture- nor is she the only one who has heard whispers of him being there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Man this story is going to hit over 100,000 words in total soon, if not with this chapter, which is pretty exciting, all things told! A chapter of build up and foreshadowing, hopefully all of which is interesting!

"You're too easy on that boy, Jodie."

"He's not our prisoner, Shu. I can't keep him confined to my apartment." Jodie stated plainly, letting a short sigh escape from her as she turned to face her coworker. "I've no right to restrain him, even if he might be walking into a trap."

"He's an important lead to the Organization as it stands, we can't exactly afford to lose him." Shuichi noted, casting a long, assessing look at the blonde woman. Not to mention the fact that if he fell back into their grasp, the Organization would likely be that much closer to accomplishing their goals.

"He's also still just a child." Jodie told him. "A child who shouldn't have to hide from them in the first place. He's quite clever in his own right, you know, there's a reason he earned himself a reputation as a high school detective before disappearing."

"That much I do not doubt." Shuichi admitted after a moment, a slight frown crossing his features. "But this whole thing might very well be a trap. Walking around with an undisguised Maria Alkaev in the middle of the day is all but begging to be discovered- I can't think of a reason behind this other than an attempt to lure the boy out."

"And if that's the case, then I'll look for Hattori-kun myself should he go missing again." Jodie said, resolute in her stance. "Because I can assure you, Shu, the moment we give off the impression that we're trying to keep him locked up is the moment that he leaves us on his own free will, and then we truly _will_ be out of a lead to the Organization. That's the type of person that he is, especially after what he's gone through at that woman's hands. You spoke to him about it, however briefly, I'm certain that you managed to gather that much."

"That much I did." Shuichi observed with a slight nod. "And it's also that much that has me concerned about his mental state, Jodie. Just bringing up the subject was enough to disturb him, as well as he hid it, there's no telling what might happen should he actually cross paths with Absinthe again. I think he vastly underestimates the damage that was done to him."

"That much I know." Jodie told him, heaving a long sigh- the nightmares that he had nearly every night were testament enough to that. She had been trying to get him to talk to her about it from the very start, really. "Hattori-kun is trying to put up a strong front, and won't discuss it with anyone. We're strangers to him after all, so it doesn't surprise me all that much. But what else do you suggest I do? Put a tracking device on him so that he can never run away from us? He's a victim, if anything."

"And a witness." Shuichi noted. "But I do acknowledge your point. I trust that if you do lose contact with him however, you'll contact me at once. Given how far she's gone, I'm rather interested in seeing to it that someone puts a stop to Absinthe's actions before things get even worse."

"Another one has gone missing, I take it?" Jodie asked, a grim expression crossing her face-one that grew even more so as Shuichi's own eyes narrowed.

"No." He told her simply, giving her the slightest shake of his head. "One of them has been found."

She didn't need for him to expand on his statement to know that this was _hardly_ good news.  
_________________________________________________________________

Quite frankly, Kazuha doubted Aoko's suggestion that if she came with her to the site of the upcoming Kid heist, they might be able to find a trace of Heiji. High school detective though he was, he had very little interest in thieves- in fact, she'd be surprised if he'd even ever heard of Kaito Kid in the first place. Heiji wasn't really the type to even pay one lick of attention to people who didn't catch his interest, and it wasn't as if the one known as the Moonlight Magician had pulled any heists in Osaka before- at least, not that she was aware of. Still, a Kid heist meant people, and more people might mean that she might cross paths with someone who had crossed paths with Heiji themselves. It was more than worth a shot.

Just knowing that the was alive and well was a great relief to her- and having met someone who had seen him, and recently too, was also a load off of her shoulders. The worst had not yet happened, of that she was now certain. For once she felt as if she might be able to rest easy that night, even if she failed to find any trace of him here.

"Kaito!" Waving her hand, Aoko hurriedly approached the young man that she had spotted, leaving both Kazuha and Yui trailing in her wake. Kazuha had found it somewhat curious that this police officer was tailing alongside this girl- the reason hadn't been given to her just yet, though she was certain there was one. "Over here, over here! There's someone here that Aoko wants you to meet!"

"Who?" Allowing himself to be lead away from the security cameras that he had been studying, Kaito blinked a little as Aoko presented a ponytailed girl to him that he had never seen before, a slight frown gracing his features as she inclined her head somewhat nervously to him.

"This girl is Toyama Kazuha!" Aoko merrily introduced her to him. She'd been hoping to find Kaito here, at the sight of the coming heist, and it turned out that her instincts had been right on the mark. After all, he had also seen the missing Hattori Heiji just the same as she had- although thinking back on it, he had marked him as being suspicious at the time. She was certain that he wasn't, however, and that doubtlessly, he had a good reason both for disappearing from his home, and giving her a fake last name when prompted for one. "You remember that person that helped me out the other day, don't you, Kaito? She's his childhood friend."

For a brief moment, Kaito didn't quite understand what Aoko meant- before it clicked in his head, and his eyes went wide. The information that he'd gotten in regards to Hattori Heiji from Hakuba also clicked into his head at the same moment, and by the time his eyes fell back on Kazuha, he knew full well what the implications were in regards to her being here, having been dragged here by Aoko.

It was of very little surprise that there would be people looking for the missing high school detective. If anything, he was a little more surprised that she was here, in Nagano, obviously asking around about him. That couldn't possibly mean that...?

"Is she now?" Kaito asked, briefly sparing a glance back towards Aoko, who nodded her head. Flicking his gaze back to Kazuha, Kaito gave her a smile, raising his poker face up, deciding that for now, masking any of his own suspicions that he might have towards her childhood friend would be the best idea. "I'm Kuroba Kaito. Your friend helped mine out quite a good deal the other day, so I'm rather grateful to him. But what brings you all the way out here to Nagano, Toyama-san?"

"Just Kazuha is fine." Kazuha was quick to say, giving him something of a sheepish smile. "I'm actually lookin' fer the childhood friend in question, an' when I heard that Aoko-chan over here had seen him before..." Trailing off a little, she cast a slightly hopeful look in Kaito's direction. "I heard from her that ya saw Heiji as well, Kuroba-han. How did he seem when ya met him?"

_Suspicious as hell._ Kaito couldn't help but mentally quip, but bit back such a remark. He wondered how much he should tell this girl. If this Hattori Heiji was really mixed up in some kind of trouble, then he almost felt that he could sympathize- he wasn't in such a different situation himself, when it came down to it, though at the very least, those chasing him didn't know his real face. Still, the girl deserved to know something, and that was that at the very least, her childhood friend was alive and well.

At least, he had been the last time he had seen him- he really couldn't say as to how he was now.

"He seemed fine, just a bit nervous, I guess." Kaito told her, giving her a slight shrug of his shoulders. "You say that you're looking for him, but does that mean he's been missing or something? I did think it was strange that he told Aoko not to mention anything about him to the police, but..." And he couldn't help but chance a slight glance towards Aoko's police escort as he did so, noticing with curiosity that she almost seemed to avert her eyes from his gaze. "...I didn't think it was because of anything like this. Did something happen?"

"I don't really know." Kazuha confessed after a moment, shaking her head. "All I know is that six months ago, Heiji disappeared from Osaka, an' took some of his things with him. Since then he hasn't gotten into contact with us even once. The only reason I'm here in Nagano now is because one of my friends who is here fer the heist spotted him by chance." With a slightly sheepish grin, she gave him a small shrug of her shoulders. "She lost him though."

"Unfortunate." Kaito observed, concealing the fact that the information that he was here, now, in Nagano, was something of a surprise to him. The first chance that he got, he would be passing on this information towards Hakuba- what reason did Heiji have to be here? Perhaps it was simply coincidence, but perhaps it was also something more. "I hope that you can find him though, Kazuha-san. I imagine you're quite worried about him."

"That's true." Kazuha admitted after a moment. "That idiot's _always_ been prone ta causin' trouble, but this is the first time he's run off like this without contacting anyone fer so long. I can't help but worry that he's gone an' gotten his idiot self mixed up in some bad business, ya know?"

"Don't worry, Kazuha-chan! Aoko is certain that you'll find Hattori-kun!" Aoko told her, quickly taking Kazuha's hands in her own, a bright smile crossing her face. "So that's why, Kaito, help us ask around about him, won't you? With so many people around, there's _bound_ to be someone who knows him!"

"Ah, well..." Kaito began, his gaze briefly darting over towards Yui again, before he turned back towards Aoko, forcing a broad smile on his face. Oh well. He couldn't exactly flake off after hearing something like this, not without earning him some suspicion from the police officer- not to mention Aoko's ire, something he would rather avoid. He still had a whole day ahead of him to get the details of the heist down, after all. "Of course, Aoko! Leave everything to me!"  
___________________________________________________________

"No good." Collapsing on a nearby bench, Heiji cast his gaze skyward, heaving a long sigh. He dared not actually tilt back his head, least his hood come off, but he did reach a hand up to scratch it, a frustrated expression crossing his face. "We've been askin' around all day today, an' we can't turn up a single piece of information. Ya would think that someone else would have _noticed_ a woman with a huge burn scar on her face an' someone as famous as that Saint girl."

"Apparently not." Conan observed, taking a seat on the bench up to him, shooting Heiji a dirty look at the slight grin the way he had to pull himself up earned him. "Rather, I'm just surprised you seemed tired, Hattori."

"Listen, just because I'm immortal doesn't mean that I don't need ta tend ta my basic human needs anymore." Heiji told him, holding his arms in front of his chest. "It just means I'm better at ignoring them than most." With a slight blink, he realized retroactively that this was perhaps a bit _more_ information than he actually wanted to give out, and dared not to spare a glance down at the shrunken detective to determine what kind of look that he had on his face. "A-anyways, it doesn't appear that there's much more that we can do here today."

"Why not?" Conan asked, blinking a little. "There's still time to ask a few more questions. It's not as if they're going to kick us out of the hotel if we don't come back at a certain time."

"It'll be dark in about an hour or so, an' I'm guessin' ya don't know this, but night drivin' is a _pain_." Heiji told him, only now briefly sparing him a glance- and inwardly wincing at the sharp gaze that was being leveled on him. Was he being too insistent about this? "Anyways, it's not like we can't just come back tomorrow, either. Well, although I get the feelin' that we won't find anythin' new, though. But I have ta say, if this is a trap, I'm feelin' a pretty low level of danger."

"Well, don't let your guard down. It's possible that Absinthe might just be waiting for word of you snooping around." Conan pointed out, before briefly considering his words. "In which case it might actually be a good idea to leave before it gets dark. It would be a lot easier for someone to spring a trap under the cover of darkness, after all."

"Right?" Heiji nodded his head, biting back a slight breath of relief. Well, he knew there was a risk when he had invited Conan to come along with him, but he figured that if he played his cards right, everything would work out just fine. In the event of an emergency, he still had _those_ things, though it was possible that someone as sharp as Conan might see right through them. He could only hope that he wouldn't be plagued by nightmares tonight- he'd rather not let him know about those. "Besides, I have ta get ya back in time fer yer bedtime, Kudo."

"That's not funny." Conan cast a glower towards him, which only sharpened as Heiji's teasing grin grew. "Need I remind you, if you weren't immortal, you might be sharing the same fate as me right now- if not _worse_."

"Don't see how bein' dead could be _any_ worse than this." Heiji mumbled underneath his breath, just low enough so that Conan couldn't catch it. Rising to his feet and tucking his hands into his pockets, he quickly changed the subject again to prevent him from pursuing what he'd just said, on the off chance he heard it. "Well, whatever. Let's head back fer now, Kudo. We're not goin' ta get anythin' more today, an' I bet yer gettin' a little bit hungry. I'll treat ya ta somethin' from room service when we get back."

"I have money of my own, Hattori, I don't need you to treat me." Conan observed, narrowing his eyes a little- he hadn't caught what Heiji had whispered, but judging from the look on his face when he said it, he suspected that it wouldn't have been something that he would have liked to hear. "Rather, _I_ should be the one asking where you're getting your money from. Does Jodie-sensei give you an allowance or something?"

"She offered, but no." Heiji said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's all money that I took with me, or money I picked up durin' my travels somewhere. Don't give me that look, it's not like I've been stealin' anythin'." Okay, _maybe_ a few things here and there, but nobody was going to miss a single apple, really. "Honestly, ya've been livin' cozy with that Neechan all this time, so it's not like ya know a damn thing about livin' basically on the run."

"Sorry." Conan quickly apologized, realizing that he kind of had a point. It was a little bit too easy for him to fall into the trap of thinking Heiji had it easier than him- they both had complicated circumstances, and both brought with them their own unique set of troubles. "It must have been pretty convenient for you when you started living together with this Uehara-san, right?"

"Tell me about it." Heiji noted, nodding his head, starting to head back to where he had parked his motorcycle. "Just havin' a safe place ta go back ta where I could have a roof over my head was nice fer a change. I'm _never_ goin' campin' again once all of this is over."

"Well, with any luck, if we manage to deal with Absinthe soon, you might be able to go home sooner than you think." Conan told him, casting him a small smile, before it quickly dampened, as he realized the obvious problem with that. "Ah, but then, I guess the rest of the Organization still thinks you're supposed to be dead, so it's not quite like you could go back to your normal life even then."

"Well, I'd work somethin' out." Heiji said, shrugging his shoulders. "Fer now, I'm lucky enough that Absinthe's the type ta keep her research a secret, but I'm willin' ta bet there's people in that Organization who are tryin' ta poke their nose around in her business now that she's doin' stuff like this. Hell, might even be related ta that shady dude ya told me about who showed up at that cafe underneath that uncle's agency. Hopefully I'll stay out of the limelight though, but it _would_ be just my luck to be exposed."

"Well, as long as we can take Ginger into custody, you should be able to safely contact your family again at least. Let them know you're alive... maybe get them to send you some new clothes." Conan noted, trying to cheer him up a little- but Heiji did have a point about Amuro, something he was already suspecting himself. Why he'd positioned himself near the agency was what really caught Conan's attention, though. "At least we know her name and where she is. It would just be a matter of having the evidence to connect her with the Organization, really."

"Easier said than done. Ya don't think I've _tried_ that avenue? Damn woman covers her tracks real well." Heiji asked. "An' it's not like I can just use myself as a witness either, especially not now that I've learned about you an' that little Neechan. I'd have ta come out into the open ta do that, an' then the rest of 'em would know fer sure I'm alive. Well, given my _condition_ , it's possible that the Organization wouldn't look too deep into the other Ahoutoxin victims, but I wouldn't want ta put the two of ya into a tight spot."

"It's _Apo_ toxin, Hattori." Conan corrected, wondering when exactly he planned on getting it right. Immortal or not, he'd nearly died by the stuff, so one would think he would be a _little_ better at remembering what it was called. "But thanks. I guess I'm the one troubling you now."

"Isn't that what I said?" Heiji blinked, tilting his head slightly. "But well, whatever. Yer not troublin' me at all, Kudo. Things'll happen as they happen, there's no point in tryin' ta rush stuff. Sure of course I want ta go back home, but if that's not in the cards, there's not really much that I can do about it. I'll go back when it's safe, an' not before then."

"Speaking of which, what do you plan on doing about your childhood friend?" Conan asked, glancing up at him. As they arrived where Heiji had left the motorcycle parked, he carefully crouched down, checking it over for anything suspicious, making sure that nobody had tampered with it when he wasn't looking. There was a glint in his eyes that gave Conan the crawling feeling that he had cause to thoroughly check for such a thing- and it once again brought to mind the question as to how Absinthe had finally managed to catch him in the first place. It was only once Heiji was satisfied that nobody had done anything, did he turn back towards Conan, finally giving him an answer.

"Avoid her." Heiji said simply. "Nagano's a big enough place, an' as long as I try an' keep a low profile, things should work out just fine. The fact that she's with that Nakamori girl is a little troublin', but that fact also means Uehara-han's around her right now ta keep an eye on her as well. That means that she can keep me updated on what Kazuha is doin', an' make sure that she doesn't get too close ta where I am."

Quickly pulling down his hood and taking off of his cap, Heiji hurriedly tucked his helmet over his head, using it to largely conceal his face from view. Tucking his cap into his back pocket, he got on the motorcycle, turning it on and revving up the engine, making a motion for Conan to hop on behind him. "Well, it'll probably work out. She's been lookin' fer me fer six months without findin' me, so there's no reason ta suspect she'll locate me now. Rather, I'm more worried about her runnin' into that Kansuke guy an' realizin' that their missin' corpse from a few months back was _me_."

With a slight grimace, Conan tucked on his own helmet, carefully positioning himself behind Heiji. "It _would_ be awfully hard to explain how you were dead four months ago, but are alive now. I doubt you want Kazuha-san to realize your secret that way. Would you tell her though?"

"Well, I guess after awhile I might have ta, dependin' on how the whole aging thing pans out fer me now." Heiji noted, feeling Conan's grip on his hoodie tighten a little as he brought that up, not needing to look back to know what kind of expression was on his face. "Who knows? Maybe I'll still grow old an' die like a normal person. Maybe I'm just impervious death by outside factors. Or maybe I'll be an eternal teenager, though that sounds like it'd be a pain in the ass after awhile. Maybe somethin' in between. I really couldn't tell ya, Kudo, but regardless, I'll probably have ta bring it up ta her at _some_ point. She deserves ta know, once all of this is over an' done with, seein' as it's caused her so much trouble without her knowin' a darn thing."

"What about ya an' that Neechan though?" Heiji asked, briefly glancing back at him as he pulled the motorcycle out of the parking lot, raising his voice so Conan could hear him. "Ya gonna tell her about yer _lil_ problem once all this is over?"

"If she doesn't find out the truth before then." Conan told him, feeling a wry grin come to his lips, unable to help but make a face at Heiji's choice of words. "She'll probably be pretty mad."

"Well, good luck to ya in that case, Kudo." Heiji noted. "Somehow I get the feelin' that Neechan's somethin' scary when she's mad. Even _without_ the super strength."  
________________________________________________________

"If you're going to be asking such questions, I'd really like to know the reason _why_."

Arranging a meeting with someone who had murdered three people was no easy task- not even for a man so high up in rank as Heizo, especially not when said murders took place far outside of his jurisdiction. He wasn't quite certain what his son had told this woman- this Shimabukuro Kimie, but the moment he'd begun to ask about him, she had quickly grown tight lipped.

Obviously not his name, at the very least not the last, as she had barely even blinked when he had introduced himself to her. After his conversation with his wife, after everything was put out into the open between them, Heizo decided that it was time to start digging into Heiji's whereabouts a even harder. The recent events brought with them a sense of urgency the likes of which hadn't quite been there prior. So he had made arrangements to meet with this woman- the one person that he was certain would have spoken to him. Speaking with all of the locals of the place dubbed as Mermaid Island perhaps might only raise red flags, but this was something that he could do, a place where he could begin.

Shizuka was dreadfully afraid that someone had taken their son, or at the very least, that someone had taken an interest in him and had forced him to go into hiding. Frankly, given what he'd learned, Heizo couldn't help but feel that it was a likely theory- but the biggest question in his mind was why his son hadn't turned to either of his parents for help in such a situation. Even if he realized that one of them must have been involved in concealing his ability from him, if he was in such a dangerous situation that he needed to disappear, it didn't make any sense for him not to begrudgingly contact them.

His son was stubborn, but not _that_ stubborn.

"I'm not sure certain what it was that he told you, Shimabukuro-han." Heizo began, narrowing his eyes slightly. All things considered, the woman held herself fairly well, though perhaps part of it was an act. He'd read up on all of the details about the case before coming here, and had spoken with a few of the officers involved. They all confirmed that they had caught glimpses of a dark skinned youth with an Osakan accent, but that they had never so much as directly spoken with him. For a brief period, they had expected that he might have something to do with the murders himself, given the way he almost seemed to be avoiding the police, all the while nosing around the crime scenes. "But I am asking because that boy is my _son_. A rather wayward one at that."

Kimie's expression shifted slightly at his words, a slight flutter of her eyelashes marking her reaction. "His father? Forgive me, but the two of you don't look at all alike."

"I've heard that much before." Heizo agreed simply. He really couldn't argue with her there- skin tone aside, his son always had taken more after his mother. "But we are father and son, that much is the truth. I've been looking for him for quite some time now, Shimabukuro-han, and when I read the details of your case, I knew at once that the young man who involved himself in it could be none other than Heiji."

"So his name was Heiji. He never actually gave me it." Kimie said after a moment, closing her eyes and exhaling slightly. Even when he had cornered the 'elder', to get her to confess to the truth, he hadn't let that much slip. "He did say there was a chance someone might come asking after him, and advised me to hold my silence. Unless it was _you_ , that is."

With a slight arch of his brows as his only reaction to his words, Heizo cast a careful eye on the young woman before him. "Do you know why it was that my son turned up on your island in the first place?"

"He was curious about the worship festival." Kimie said honestly, fixing her gaze on the man. "That in itself is nothing rare, most of the people who come there are- but rather being curious as to how to obtain immortality, he almost seemed to be more curious as to how to get _rid_ of such a thing." With a slight laugh, she cast her eyes briefly downward, thoughts doubtlessly dwelling on something else. "Between the two, I much preferred his questions, really. Nothing good comes from a long life."

She had seen many guests come and go from her shrine, with questions about immortality on their lips- but none of them struck her quite the same way that he had. There was something distant in his otherwise bright gaze and easy smile, especially once the dots had connected for him, and the truth had unveiled itself.

"Did he tell you anything about himself?" Heizo asked, watching as the woman shook her head.

"No. He never even gave me his name, as I said. Never even showed me his face, really." Kimie told him. "I thought it was strange, but when he told me that I ought to hold my tongue as much as possible as to his presence there... I assumed that perhaps he was hiding from someone."

"Did anyone else come to visit you?" Heizo inquired, watching as a grave look crossed her face.

"Just one person, shortly after I was brought here in the first place." Kimie said after a moment, a sharp look in her eyes. "A woman with a large burn scar on her face. I told her nothing, and I have a feeling it made her a bit angry. She was quite pressing in regards to her questions, so I found it a bit odd at the time. She claimed that she was a reporter, but I doubted it. I didn't quite catch her name either, come to think of it. Rather, she didn't give it."

Heizo's eyes narrowed slightly at her words, mentally filing away the given description. Just as he suspected, it appeared that there was someone else searching for his son- but as to _who_ this woman was, he couldn't say. She'd been able to access a convicted murderer, which was not necessarily an easy feat. It was an unpleasant bit of information to hear, but not entirely unexpected. If this was someone that his son had to go to such lengths to hide from, then they weren't someone to be underestimated.

"How long have you been looking for your son?" Kimie asked, glancing up towards him.

"Around six months now." Heizo replied, keeping his words curt. "Was there anything else that you noticed about him, Shimabukuro-han?"

"Just one thing, really." Kimie said after a moment, though there was something in her expression that said that perhaps, there was at least one thing more- one thing more that she had decided _not_ to tell him about. "Since you've read about the case yourself, Hattori-san, I assume that you know all of the details already. But when I revealed that his theory about me disguising myself as the elder was correct, he had the strangest look on his face. Disappointment, to be sure, but also relief. I feel as if he was hoping that the rumors of mermaids and their immortality on our island were real."

Though perhaps not for the same reasons as everyone else.

Not letting anything surface on his face, Heizo merely gave her a rather curt reply. "I see. I don't suppose he mentioned anything alluding as to where he was heading next?"

"I'm afraid not." Kimie said simply, shaking her head. "I'm afraid that I can't help you anymore than this, Hattori-san."

"You have already been a great help, Shimabukuro-han." Heizo said simply, rising to his feet. Just having confirmation that there was someone else looking for his son- and having a description of her to go off of, was valuable information in and of itself. It wasn't hard to guess the reasons why this scarred woman might have been looking for Heiji- but as for how she could have learned of such information that even Heizo himself wasn't aware of until recently, much less Heiji himself, and who it was that she might be, these were still unknown factors.

He had gotten a call from Kazuha's father just before he had arrived here, telling him that one of her classmates had apparently spotted Heiji in the Nagano prefecture, around the area of that white clad phantom thief's upcoming heist. Kazuha had gone there to search for him, and there was very little that Ginshiro could do to stop her, given her own ability. With that in mind, and with the other trace that his son had left behind, his next destination would be Nagano. He was interested in having some words with the police Inspector who had found the corpse whose description had made Heizo's skin crawl.

Words that he would be far more careful about- speaking to a prisoner with very little contact with the outside world, who was very difficult to get to, was one thing. Speaking to a police Inspector who had the reputation that Yamato Kansuke did was another thing entirely. The last thing he wanted to do was increase the number of factors looking for his son, wanting to keep it to those that he knew. Himself, Kazuha, the Mouri man that she had hired (though he couldn't help but get the impression he had nothing to worry about in that department)- and of course, this unknown woman, whose intentions were _far_ less pleasant than those of anyone else looking for him, of that he had very little doubt.  
________________________________________________________________________

On the surface, there was nothing too disturbing about the report that Kansuke was currently reading. While it was a bit troublesome that someone outside of the Nagano police department was aware of the sighting of Maria Alkaev within their prefecture's borders, it wasn't impossible that someone might have heard of it. The FBI had been asking questions recently- as well as the Russians themselves, of course. What was troubling about the report that had been passed his way late that afternoon was the description of the young man who was asking the questions- or what they could make out of him anyways, given that he seemed to be going to great lengths to conceal his face.

A dark skinned young man with dark hair and blue eyes. Judging from his described height and body type, there was one thing that leapt out towards Kansuke at once. Granted, it still could be a coincidence- there was no reason to suspect that the unidentified corpse that had shown up four months ago, before promptly disappearing, might be up and walking around under it's own power, much less asking questions about the missing Saint of Russia- and with a _child_ in tow, none the less.

Still, it tugged at his instincts. One of the people who had been questioned by the unusual pair had informed one of the local police officers, who in turn informed headquarters, on the off chance that they could somehow be related to the kidnapping case. With a considering look on his face, he rose to his feet, scanning over the report one more time. From the sound of it, the pair had already left the small town- the officer had spotted them driving off. He had, however, gotten hold of the license number of the motorcycle the young man had been driving.

And that was where things really got troubling. Because when he looked up the plate number, the motorcycle in question turned out to belong to a rental company in the area. But the one who rented the motorcycle wasn't the young man, even though they had been told someone of his description would be coming to pick it up. Rather, the one who had rented the motorcycle was a name that he knew rather well- he'd grown up with the woman, after all.

Uehara Yui.

With such information in hand, Kansuke decided it was time to ask a few questions of his fellow police officer. There was very little doubt in his mind that this young man was probably none other than the person that she had been concealing for the past few months- although all traces of him had disappeared around a month ago, it would appear that he had finally returned. The fact that he was asking questions about the missing Powered girl- and more pressingly, about the woman that she had been with, all but confirmed his suspicions that whoever this person was, he probably was, in fact, involved in something _quite_ dangerous. Subsequently, it was entirely possible that Yui had gotten herself mixed up in some dangerous business when he wasn't looking- and that was an idea that he didn't like, not one bit.

Although the child was the truly confusing factor in all of this- from what he'd read, the bespectacled child had been asking just as many questions as the dark skinned youth had. Neither of the pair had given their names to anyone, though nobody had quite pressed them for them in the first place.

Frankly, were it not for the timing, Kansuke probably wouldn't have harbored any suspicions that this mysterious freeloader of Yui's could be in any way connected to the mysterious corpse that he had found, riddled with bullet wounds. He'd made the slightest of grimaces at the time, wondering what a mere teenager could have done to get mixed up in something that would have lead to such an untimely death. It was unfortunate- but regrettably, not the first time he'd run into such a thing before.

It was the first time in his career that a corpse had completely vanished, however. Even amongst his coworkers, there were those who bought into the foolish notion that it had got up and left headquarters on his own- which was downright absurd. The dead did not come back to life, after all. Perhaps he was living in an age where strange things were commonplace- the family living down the street from him had a very sweet young daughter who incidentally could spit acid- but something to the effect of a walking corpse was still out of the question.

Were the corpse in question not in the right age group to posses a strange ability of his own, he really would have no issues assuming that the young man that he'd only briefly managed to catch a glimpse of that evening had everything to do with the vanishing corpse. Still, if there really was someone amongst the Powered with such an ability, what then, did it really make these children?

It wasn't a question that he really cared to answer- his focus now was on the Maria Alkaev investigation. And if there was a chance that this mysterious freeloader of Yui's could have something to do with it, then he wouldn't hesitate to pursue that angle himself. Luckily, he knew exactly where to find her- the last he'd heard from her, she was escorting the Nakamori Aoko girl the sight of tomorrow evening's Kaito Kid heist, so that she could see her father and her friends.

Well, hopefully none of the thief's _incessantly annoying_ fans would have already shown up at the venue the evening before. Quite honestly, Kansuke had no idea what to make of them- and was grateful that he was in the wrong division entirely, so that he never had to deal with such things in the first place.

At least corpses didn't generally parade around wearing flamboyantly nonsensical outfits.  
___________________________________________________________

It wasn't often that Kaito was the one pulling him aside, so when the bushy haired teen called out to Hakuba, indicating that they should speak somewhere a bit more private than this, it had caught his attention right away. He had noticed that Kaito had seemed to have wandered off somewhere- frankly Hakuba expected to find him nosing around the security measures- security measures he was going to have to convince Inspector Nakamori to change in secret if he got the chance.

He took brief notice of the unknown ponytailed girl who was chatting with Aoko, just out of earshot, but at the time, he hadn't paid her too much mind. It was only once Kaito had found a place where he felt certain that they wouldn't be overheard by anyone, did Hakuba have a reason to be bothered by her presence here, something which had very little to do with this Toyama Kazuha herself, and everything to do with the one that she had come all this way to look for.

"He's here?" Hakuba asked, dropping his voice down to a whisper, a serious expression crossing his face. "Are you certain, Kuroba-kun?"

"She seems certain, at any rate, and she would probably know the best." Kaito said, his gaze darting back towards Kazuha's direction. "We haven't actually found anyone who has run into him just yet, but she showed us the photograph her friend sent her on her cellphone, and I can definitely confirm it's the same guy in it that Aoko and I met the other day. So unless he's already left the city and was just passing through, then yeah, this Hattori Heiji person is _definitely_ here."

Putting a hand to his chin in thought, Hakuba's brows knitted together at this new information. Certainly, he had told Kaito to inform him if he'd noticed the one likely to be the missing high school detective of the west anywhere around them, but he hadn't exactly expected it to be so soon. Was it merely coincidence that he was here in Nagano, or...?

"We'll have to keep our eyes peeled for him as well. Do you think there's a chance that he might come to the heist?" Hakuba ventured, chancing him a slight glance.

"I have no idea why you would ask _me_ that, Hakuba, but if he's trying to keep a low profile, he'd have to be a total idiot to." Kaito dryly observed, shooting Hakuba a long look. Was this _really_ the time to be pressing him about his connection to Kaito Kid? "Kid's heists are always highly televised, and if he really is trying to hide from someone, then there's a chance that he might be picked up unwittingly on television. I don't think he'd risk it, unless there's some reason why he would have to come."

"A fair point." Hakuba admitted. "Do you think he perhaps came here following Nakamori-san, then?"

"I don't know." Kaito said, shaking his head. "Frankly I'd rather that not be the case. It's a bit creepy." He admitted, a slight frown gracing his features at the idea of someone following Aoko around- even if they had helped her avoid capture in the first place. The timing of said assistance was _impeccable_ , and he couldn't help but wonder if that too, was more than just a coincidence. "Though if he really is looking into whoever is behind these kidnappings, it's not entirely possible that he might be keeping tabs on Aoko."

"How would he have known that she would be a potential victim in the first place?" Hakuba asked. "It's not as if the list of potential Powered is all that easy to access, even _if_ he is the son of Osaka's chief of police. Even I can't get my hands on something like that so easily."

"That's a good question." Kaito admitted, lifting his brows. "Aoko's dad mentioned that there were two infiltration attempts into the database where that list was kept in the first place, so maybe the culprit had something to do with the first one, and Hattori-kun had something to do with the second? Or perhaps one of his associates, if he's not acting alone, which judging from the phone call he got, I doubt that he is."

"Which raises the question of _who_ he's working with, and _what_ they're working towards." Hakuba finished. "Did his childhood friend have anything to say?"

"Nothing that we didn't already know, aside from a pretty adamant defense of Hattori-kun's character." Kaito noted, briefly grimacing as he recalled the sharp words he'd been on the receiving end of when he'd asked if perhaps Heiji might have gotten mixed up with some bad people- perhaps on _their_ side. He was _pretty sure_ that she hadn't forgiven him for that just yet.

No wonder she and Aoko were getting along so well, they both had a rather temperamental nature in common. Just his luck.

"Noted." Hakuba observed, quietly deciding not to make the same mistake that Kaito obviously had. "Keep your eyes open for Hattori-kun- and anyone else who might look somewhat out of place. Perhaps I should inform the Inspector to double tomorrow night's security."

"Are you worried something might happen?" Kaito asked, briefly sparing him a glance. Granted, such a question had been eating away at him too, but he'd resolved to face whatever it was should such a thing happen.

"I'm not sure." Hakuba admitted after a moment, shaking his head. "But in circumstances like these, it never hurts to be careful."

For once, Kaito actually found himself agreeing with him.


	17. The Future Remains To Be Seen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As a disturbing development in the case comes to light, fate draws those separated by it closer together than ever.

"Is this really alright, Absinthe?"

"You mean about the corpse?" Absinthe observed, not pulling her attention away from the contents of the test tube that she was carefully observing. "It's fine. After all the effort we took in waking up his ability, it turned out to be completely useless. It's not as if we can just allow him to go back home, not alive at least. His parents should be thankful, really. Now they'll have something to bury."

"They might be able to track you down by it."

"From the corpse? Hardly." Absinthe said simply, letting out a slight sigh as she carefully slipped the test tube back into the rack with the others, each sample carefully labeled. "Or are you suggesting that you might have made a mistake somewhere when disposing of it, Ginger?"

"Hardly." Folding her arms in front of her chest, Ginger shook her head, a slightly smug look crossing her face. "If there's one thing that I know well, it's how a police investigation operates. Did you forget what my cover is already, boss?"

"Of course not. That's why I depend on you so much." Absinthe noted simply, flicking a light finger against the surface of one of the test tubes, listening to the faint sound it sent through her lab. "Don't you feel that this room needs a bit more color, though?" She observed, turning on her heel, her white lab coat the same color as the stark white walls of the room. "Perhaps a nice painting or something. I've been so busy since moving in that I've hardly had a chance to decorate."

"With as many people searching for this place as there are, should that really be something you should be thinking about right now?" Ginger asked, quirking a brow. Only the faint muffled protest from the person strapped to a nearby table reminded the pair that they weren't currently alone. "The police and the FBI are one thing, but you've also got the Organization proper looking into what you're doing. I had to play dumb to that god awful Gin person just the other day, and Vermouth has set her favorite detective out to question people in Tokyo."

"Tokyo, hm?" Absinthe asked, a slight frown crossing her features. "Now that is curious. Why Tokyo, of all places, I wonder? Because of that Nakamori girl who slipped away? Or perhaps..." She trailed off, lightly tapping her fingers against the desk, a hint of a grin crossing her features, amber eyes sparkling underneath the bright lights of the lab. "I suspect Vermouth knows something about our missing experimental sample. Though I suppose she wouldn't tell me even if I asked. That bothersome woman would only try and get in the way, if anything. If she finds this place again..."

Narrowing her eyes, Absinthe chewed lightly on her nail. She had suspected that someone had snuck into her lab and had been snooping around in her files- it was a good thing she was quite skilled with encrypting such things. It probably wasn't coincidence that the FBI had managed to locate her Gunma lab shortly afterwards. If she hadn't been so absorbed in her research at that time, then she never would have allowed a mistake like that to happen. Exactly what was that woman's game in the first place? If she wasn't the boss's favorite, then she'd...

No. Vermouth was also a precious research sample, albeit one that she couldn't manage to obtain at the moment. She couldn't bring harm to her, as annoying as she was. She didn't know if she'd come back from the dead if she killed her, after all, and she wasn't willing to put that to the test.

"Ah, yes, speaking of my sample," Absinthe said, glancing up, pulling her fingernail away from her lips, quickly changing the topic. "...has there been any news coming out of Nagano? I set up bait there, but if it's true that it's been active enough in Tokyo to catch Vermouth's eye, then it might have been an unnecessary action."

"There's been word. Not just from the locals, either." Ginger said. "My other bosses' daughter is his childhood friend, if you'll remember. It appears that she called him at work to inform him that she was heading to Nagano in search of him. If that's the case, it's very likely he's there. Would you like me to go after him?"

"No, no, not just yet. Observation first, Ginger. That's one of the very foremost principles of science." Absinthe said simply. "If we give it a measure of freedom, I have a feeling it might lead us to some other interesting things. Perhaps it might even lead us to the other pieces."

"Other pieces?" Ginger inquired, her brow furrowing slightly- for as much as her boss relied on her, she was still not the type to disclose what information she knew herself, only telling her just as much as she needed to know, and nothing more than that. "What do you mean by that, boss? Does it have anything to do with that Russian girl?"

"Well, in time, you'll see. We've already found one of them." Absinthe said, turning her attention to the one that had been strapped down to the table all of this time, an unwilling eavesdropper to their conversation who would rather be anywhere but here. "I'm sure that in time, I'll find the other three as well. And once I get the center piece back into my hands... then I can finally accomplish my goals."

"Your research for the Organization?" Ginger asked, tilting her head.

"Oh yes, that too, I suppose." Absinthe said, almost as if it were an afterthought. "Now then," turning her full attention to her current test subject, she carefully pulled on a fresh pair of gloves, snapping them tight against her skin. "Let's see if you, perhaps, have more promise than the last."  
___________________________________________________________

"Kan-chan!" At the rather disgruntled glower the use of his childhood nickname earned her, Yui briefly covered her mouth, before quickly clearing her throat. "I mean, Inspector Yamato. What brings you here? I thought you didn't want anything to do with the Kid heist."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Kazuha, once again picking out someone from the crowd and asking them if there was any chance that they had seen this person. Turning her full attention back towards Kansuke, Yui had to fight to keep a frown off her face- she didn't like that look the scarred Inspector wore on his own, and it was more than enough to tell her that he hadn't come here for any reasons that had anything to do with Kid.

He was probably here for her, actually.

"I'm don't." Kansuke stated bluntly, narrowing his eyes at the mere implication. "I'm here about the Alkaev matter, actually. I've got a few questions for you, Uehara. Where's the girl you're supposed to be watching?"

"She's with her father, right at this second." Yui told him, turning her attention further down the hall. "With all these police officers bustling around, I think it's safe enough to leave her on her own for a few minutes. I'm certain her father won't let her out of his sights. But you have some questions for me? About the missing Saint of Russia?"

She had a bad feeling about this.

"I've got some questions about someone who is asking some questions." Kansuke noted dryly, glancing about their surroundings. Well, nobody seemed to be paying them much mind here, which worked out just perfect for him. "Someone turned up in that town asking questions about the missing girl and the women that she was with at that time. Funny thing is, kid had a rental motorcycle whose licence matched up to one you had rented, Uehara. I didn't even know you knew how to drive one."

Yes, this was most definitely bad. How had he managed find out something like that? If he'd come here to ask her about it, then he knew full well it was the truth- there was no point in trying to deny it. Still, she managed to more than keep her composure- if there was one thing growing up with him had gotten her used to, it was Kansuke's rather impressive glower. It was hardly enough to make her bat an eye these days.

Still, she'd promised Heiji not to mention anything about him to Kansuke, and as much as she thought he could be a valuable ally for him, she wanted to keep that promise. Biting her lip ever so slightly, Yui debated her answer for a brief moment, before she heaved a slight sigh, giving him a quick smile. "That's correct. I did rent a motorbike for someone else to use."

"Is it the kid who you've been hiding at your place for the past few months?" Kansuke asked, raising a brow. "I know you've been hiding someone there, at the very least ever since you still lived with the Torada family. I thought it was some kind of runaway, maybe, but not if he's asking around about such a high profile case. Not to mention the fact that he's managed to obtain information that's _still_ supposed to be top secret."

Meeting his gaze for a moment longer, Yui heaved another sigh. Why on earth did Kansuke have to be so good at his job? Not that she minded, really- it was one of the things that she loved about him, actually. Casting a half glance back towards Kazuha, making certain that she was still occupied, she turned back to Kansuke, giving him something of a helpless look.

"You have me in something of a bind here, Kan-chan." Yui said, ignoring the slight twitch the nickname earned her. She wanted to make it clear that she was talking to him as an old friend now, and not as a fellow police officer. "It's true that I've been looking after someone off and on since then, but it's not like he's a bad person. He's just in some bad circumstances. As for why he's asking about the Alkaev case... it's not entirely unrelated to his bad circumstances."

"You got a name for this kid?" Kansuke asked. "I know what he looks like, the officer who sent in the report about someone poking their nose around the place about a subject they shouldn't know about was real helpful when it came to that. Dark skinned kid with an Osakan accent. Funny thing though, his description matches that of the missing corpse quite a bit."

"Surely you're not going to start believing in those ghost stories they're telling at the station now, Kan-chan." Yui said lightly, a slight teasing hint to her voice, one that made him almost snort. "I can't tell you anything. I promised him that much. That kid's been through a lot already, and if I were to break his trust like this... I don't think it would go over well. He needs as many allies by his side as he can."

"The situation is that dangerous?" Kansuke asked, trying to press for what information he could. If she was still holding back information from him even after being directly questioned about it, then that was just how much she valued this promise that she had made to him. And while he doubted that Yui would be so naive as to be tricked by a dangerous person- she was a perfectly capable police officer, after all- he still couldn't help but be concerned.

Both for his fellow officer, and for his childhood friend.

"It's dangerous." Yui said with a quick nod. Quickly sensing the real reason he might have asked, she gave him a smile, quickly shaking her head. "But I'm not getting myself directly involved in it, so you don't have to worry about me. At most, I've just been giving him a roof over his head, and three meals a day. He's not living with me anymore though, if that's what you're wondering."

Good eye narrowing at her words, sensing that there was far more that she wasn't telling him, Kansuke debated on whether or not he should press her about it. She'd cave eventually, of that she had very little doubt- but somehow, that left a bad taste in his mouth. With a frustrated sigh, he rubbed the back of his head in irritation, locking eyes with her again. "You've been feeding him police information, haven't you? Who is this kid anyways, that's he's gotten his nose in deep into whatever kind of mess that Russian saint girl has gotten mixed up in?"

"Sorry." Yui apologized, wincing a little as he clicked his tongue, a hint of anger flashing through his eye. She wondered how he'd feel if she told him that part of the reason that she couldn't help but want to look after Heiji was because she reminded her of _him_. Although, between the two of them, Heiji was definitely the more friendly and easygoing- but there were certain things about them that were rather similar. Their tempers, for one thing- as well as their deductive abilities. "He's a really talented child, though. You could say that he's a detective."

"A detective, huh?" Kansuke asked, quirking a brow. "You really trust this kid, Uehara?"

"I do." Yui said, nodding her head. "And I'll tell you one thing I've learned from him, Kan-chan. You told me earlier that you suspected that Maria Alkaev's kidnapping and the mass kidnappings of those on the potential Powered list were related. I can confirm with you that they most likely are- that same woman from that photograph is without a doubt, the same one behind those kidnappings."

"So they were related." Narrowing his eyes, Kansuke placed a hand to his chin, his brows furrowing in thought. It was exactly as he thought- and now that he knew that much, it opened up some new angles of approach. It was time to revisit those few cases that had occurred within Nagano. "What does this woman want?"

"I don't think I can tell you anymore than that right now, Kan-chan. Even I don't know the full details. Let me talk with the child myself first, before we get any further into this topic." Yui told him, shaking her head. "All I know is that woman is dangerous. She's the one that child is trying to hide from in the first place. Really, he shouldn't be looking into this matter at all, but..." Heaving a sigh, Yui shrugged her shoulders. "...he's that type, after all."

"Hmph. With that kind of expression, it almost seems like there's something you want to _add_ to that sentence." Kansuke couldn't help but observe- any reply she might have made to that comment cut off by the sound of his cellphone ringing. Eyes narrowing, he pulled it out, answering it rather curtly. "This is Inspector Kansuke. What is it?"

It was the long pause, more than anything, that made Yui nervous- as well as the sharp way that his good eye narrowed. She knew that expression all too well- it was the kind he wore whenever there was a development in a case he was working on. A bad development, usually.

"Are you certain? Yeah, I understand. I'll return to headquarters right away." Kansuke said, quickly hanging up his cellphone. For a moment, a considering look crossed his face- before he locked eyes with Yui again, a serious expression on it. "Tell that kid of yours that there's been a development in that case then. One of the missing children turned up."

"You're not going to say...?" Yui trailed off, quickly able to put two and two together.

"Yeah. As a corpse."  
______________________________________________________________________

 _Geh_.

Thank god for his poker face, otherwise Kaito would have completely blown it the first moment he spotted none other than Inspector Yamato Kansuke at the sight of his coming heist. What the hell was he doing here? He hadn't suddenly changed his mind and decided to join the Kid Task Force in an effort to capture him, had he? He'd rather _avoid_ such a scenario.

Or perhaps not, he thought, taking a moment to better assess the situation. He seemed to have made a beeline for that Uehara Yui woman, who had been standing by ever since Aoko had gone off to speak with her father. Perhaps there was something going on that he needed to contact her about? He was too far away to really make out what it was that they were saying, and they were keeping their voices rather low to begin with. It wasn't as if he could get closer to them without drawing attention to himself, so it would be better to skip that.

Narrowing his eyes a little as their conversation continued, Kaito tried to make out what they were saying based on their lip movements. Maybe he really should try and pick up lip reading- it might be an important skill for him to have as both a magician and a phantom thief. So absorbed was he in trying to make out what they were saying, that he didn't hear the person sneaking up on him until they'd already placed a hand on his shoulder.

And nearly leapt out of his skin at the sudden contact, spinning around on his heel- only to let out a deep breath of relief as he discovered it was only Aoko. Briefly glancing back towards the two police officers, he frowned a little, noticing that Kansuke was already making his way out of the place. Whatever he had come here for must have already wrapped up- and whatever it was, it had Yui with a rather serious expression on her face. She reached for her phone, and then...

"Wait, Kaito!" Aoko huffed, planting her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes. "Aoko comes out to greet you, and you completely ignore her!"

"Ah, sorry, sorry." Kaito said quickly, turning back around to face her. "I was just distracted by something, that's all. Are we headed back to the hotel soon? It's getting pretty late, and I'm starting to get a bit hungry, so..."

"Yeah, soon." Aoko said, nodding her head. "Dad will join us a little later though. He still has some things that he wants to set up."

"He's working awfully hard even though the heist is tomorrow." Kaito couldn't help but note. "Well, I suppose given his track record, I can hardly blame him."

"Geez, Kaito. Aoko's dad will _definitely_ capture that sneak thief sometime soon, just you wait and see! You'll be eating your words when that happens!" Aoko said, nodding her head.

 _Well, if that happens, I'll be doing more than just eating my own words._ Although such thoughts swirled around in his head, he didn't give any hint to them on his face. "I thought you were the one who was going to catch Kid, after you developed your so-called miraculous superpower, Aoko. What happened to that?"

"Of course, that could still be in the cards as well!" Aoko said, nodding her head. "His daughter's victory is also Aoko's father's victory! And just you watch, Kaito! Aoko will develop a power so amazing, that she'll blow your mind!" She told him firmly. "Ah, speaking of Kid though, Hakuba-kun will be staying behind for a little while himself as well. Apparently he wants to go over the perimeter of the grounds one more time."

Probably checking the grounds for anything that I might have set up, Kaito thought to himself. Well, good luck with that Hakuba. This wouldn't be any fun if you didn't do your best. "So I guess it's just the two of us then. Ah, and Uehara-san as well, I guess."

"The four of us!" Aoko said after a moment, holding up her fingers. "Kazuha-chan's staying with Aoko in her hotel room tonight! Ah, speaking of that, Aoko should go get her."

"Is that okay?" Kaito asked, frowning slightly. "Are you sure you can really trust this Kazuha-chan?"

"Of course! Kazuha-chan's a nice girl!" Aoko said, nodding her head. "It doesn't do you any good to be so suspicious all of the time, Kaito! Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith with people."

"If you say so." Kaito said, watching as she made her way over towards Kazuha. Heaving a long sigh, he blinked, feeling his cellphone vibrate in his pocket. Who could it be that was calling him? Jii, maybe? He knew he was somewhere here in Nagano already, but was trying to make sure his presence wasn't known. Pulling it out of his pocket, his eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed it was an unknown number.

"Hello?" Answering the call with a certain amount of caution, glancing around his surroundings, he almost let a slight sigh of relief escape from him as he recognized the voice on the other end of the phone. One that caught in his throat the moment he realized what the fact that she was calling him _meant_.

Where the hell did _Akako_ get his phone number from?

"I trust this really is your number then, Kuroba-kun." Akako's voice spoke up from the other side of the phone, and for a moment, he considered lying- before he realized she would see through that quickly.

"How did you get my phone number, Akako? Don't tell me you asked demons for it or something." Kaito said, narrowing his eyes.

"Of course not. I wouldn't waste a demon summoning on something so mundane as getting a phone number. I simply asked the teacher." Akako said, a slight hint of amusement to her voice- one that quickly died back down as soon as she got serious. "But more importantly, Kuroba-kun, I would be careful if I were you."

"Don't tell me this is about the Kid heist again." Kaito said, heaving a long sigh. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm _not_ Kaito Kid?"

"Now is hardly the time for denial of something we both know to be true." Akako said, her tone cutting short any arguments that he might have. "I glimpsed into your future on a whim."

"And? Don't tell me it's _more_ bad news?" Kaito asked, rubbing the back of his head. Well, none of Akako's warnings had panned out before- he'd certainly wound up in bad situations on such occasions, but they had been nothing that he wasn't able to get himself out of with a little ingenuity.

Even in a world where some of his schoolmates had strange abilities, to think that there would be something like a _witch_. Frankly, he was half under the impression that Akako was simply another Powered, and was under the delusion that she was a witch herself. Perhaps she carried the power of prophecy- and just chose to mask it underneath a witch's theatrics. He couldn't say that he entirely disliked her dramatic flair.

"That's just it, Kuroba-kun." Akako's tone was rather curt- unusual for her, and it was something that caught his attention right away. "I can't see anything. It's as if your future is hidden by some kind of thick smoke which even my abilities can't see through. It's not just yours as well- Nakamori-san and Hakuba-san are there with you, correct?"

"Don't tell me it's the same for all of them?" Kaito asked, his gaze trailing back towards where Aoko was, watching as she chatted easily with Kazuha. "What does that mean?"

"I cannot say." Akako said, and he could almost hear the deep set frown on her face, so uncharacteristic of her. "Something might happen soon that will throw your futures so into disarray, that not even I will be able to see what's coming. In any case, Kuroba-kun, be extremely careful. If there's anything out of the ordinary, you can call this number back, and speak with me on the matter."

"How unusual of you to offer me help." Kaito couldn't help but note. "Don't tell me you've grown fond of me, Akako?"

"Don't be absurd." Akako's tone was short. "I'm simply concerned about Nakamori-san, that's all. Her fate is tied to yours."

"I'll be careful, Akako." Kaito said after a moment, his voice taking on a rather serious tone for once. "I won't let anything happen to Aoko, either. And I guess Hakuba-kun too." He added with a shrug, almost as an afterthought. "Ah, speaking of Aoko though, she's headed my way. I'll be hanging up now, unless there's anything else."

"No." Akako said, heaving a sigh as she heard the other end of the line go dead. Casting her eyes into her cauldron, she clutched her phone tight, a knot of anxiety forming in her stomach against all of her expectations. This was the first time, that she wasn't able to see someone's future like this- and not just one person, but three people.

What exactly what was about to happen?

And what, exactly, had been that red gleam that had flashed through fog, carrying with it an ominous feeling?

She had a terrible feeling about this.  
_____________________________________________________________________

"We still don't know his ultimate cause of death?"

"The examiners have gone over him quite thoroughly, and we're still at something of a loss, I'm afraid." Glancing over at her coworker, Sato Miwako heaved a long sigh, feeling her frustrations only mount with this development. Sure, ever since the first teenager had gone missing, everyone had been holding their breath and waiting with dread for the chance that he might turn back up again as a corpse- but it was also something that nobody wanted. Whatever the reason was behind these children going missing, they were too late to save this one.

There weren't enough excuses in the world.

"We think it was some type of poison, but..." Sato said, shaking her head. "There's no traces of such a thing in his system. They said that there were imprints on his skin left behind by needles, but they can't say if that's what was used to kill him or not. At the moment, they only know that he's been dead for about half a day now."

"For someone who took such care in not leaving any tracks when it came to kidnapping him, they certainly didn't seem to feel the same way about his body." Takagi couldn't help but observe, his eyes narrowed tightly as he gazed down at the corpse. He saw plenty of death in his line of work- and sometimes it felt like recently, he'd been seeing more and more corpses- but it was different whenever it was someone this young. Just a high school student.

When the parents had come in to identify their son, there had been a deep amount of grief- and plenty of blame. Frankly, he couldn't deny that if they had searched even a little bit harder, something might have been able to be done to save the boy's life. It wasn't just him now- all twenty of the kidnapped teenagers lives were now in danger- provided they too, weren't _already_ dead.

The Inspector had already headed out to face down the press, and frankly, Takagi wished him luck. This wasn't going to be an easy thing to deal with. The kidnappings might have finally stopped, at least to their knowledge, but twenty lives currently hung in the balance.

"They said that there's traces of someone else having already examined him." Sato said, glancing over towards Takagi. "They also detected trace abnormalities in his blood, which they're going to study further. A DNA sample was taken as well. Thankfully, the samples from back when he took the test for Powered abilities are still on record, so we have something to compare them to. Not as recent as we might like, but..."

"Abnormalities?" Takagi blinked. "What kind of abnormalities?"

"They wouldn't specify just yet." Sato said, shaking her head. "They probably want to be sure of what they're going to report before they report it. I've got a horrible feeling about this, Takagi-kun. It feels like there's something going on here beyond what we can even imagine. And I don't like that."

"I don't think any of us do." Takagi noted. "Has anyone contacted-"

His question was cut off, as the pair was quickly joined by another police officer, begging their pardon for interrupting them. When they informed them that there was someone waiting upstairs in headquarters, demanding to be shown the corpse, claiming that they could help solve this mystery, the pair exchanged a long look between the two of them- before they decided to go and see what all this fuss was about.  
_____________________________________________________________

"Oi, Hattori. You might want to see this."

"Hm? Just a second, Kudo!" Heiji called out from the bathroom, blinking slightly as he double checked to make sure everything was in place. Well, he'd probably notice something, but... well, it would be fine. They had already returned to their hotel room, making it just in time, really. Opening up the bathroom door, glancing over towards where the shrunken detective had perched himself on his bed, it only took him a moment to take notice of the rather grave expression on his face. "Did somethin' happen?"

"Yeah." Conan said, nodding his head, holding up his cellphone to show him the article that had just been published almost minutes ago- breaking news. "They found the corpse of one of the missing teenagers."

He didn't miss that flash of anger that surged through Heiji's eyes at those words- nor the odd feeling that something about them was vaguely off. Still, he shook it off, knowing that there were other things he needed to focus on at the moment. Letting Heiji take his cellphone from him, allowing him to scan the contents of his article, he yelped a little as Heiji let his anger get the best of him, almost hurling it down on his bed. Jumping to catch it before it bounced off and hit the floor, Conan heaved a slight sigh of relief as he secured it once again.

Well, he was angry too.

"Damnit." Heiji's eyes narrowed, his fists tightly clenching. "While we're wastin' time lookin' fer leads that might not be there, she's already gone this far! This is the sort of thing I was afraid of, Kudo."

"It's not your fault, Hattori." Conan said slowly. "You couldn't have known something like this would have happened."

"It's _damn well_ my fault." Heiji hissed, feeling his nails dig into his skin. It was painful, but it wasn't like it mattered anyways. "If I didn't have this kind of ability, somethin' like this would have never happened in the first place!"

"You'd be _dead_ if you didn't, Hattori." Conan reminded him. "Or seven, I guess."

"One life in the place of possibly _twenty others_ isn't exactly a good tradeoff, Kudo." Heiji noted, folding his arms in front of his chest, starting to pace, anger all but radiating off of him. "If it's me that she wants so badly, why the hell is she doin' all of this fer? What, does she think there's other kids out there that might be like me, so she's goin' treasure huntin'? It's not like repeat abilities are even a _thing_."

"That might very well be what she's doing." Conan noted, his brows furrowing as he placed a hand on his chin. "You said that it seemed like she had some kind of ulterior motive, right? Something besides her research for the Organization motivating her."

"Yeah." Heiji paused for a moment, turning to glance back towards him, giving him a sharp nod. "That's right. I don't know what it is though."

"It's possible that this might help her further that goal somehow." Conan said, glancing up at him. "So it's possible that she might have resorted to something like this even without you, Hattori. Besides, if you get too angry, you won't be able to think straight."

"Aren't you mad too, Kudo?" Heiji asked, turning back to face him, only locking eyes with him for a moment, before turning away again. "After all, the dead boy is from yer turf. Tokyo."

"Of course I'm mad." Conan said, heaving a long sigh, running a hand through his hair as he studied the article once more. "Someone is dead, and I wasn't able to find him fast enough to prevent it- and it's likely that the others might share his same fate if we can't find whatever lab it is that Absinthe is operating out of now."

"Is there any chance that you might have heard something that might help while you were..." Conan trailed off there, half unable to finish the sentence, before he swallowed a little, forcing the rest of it out. "...held captive by her?"

"No." Heiji said, eyes daring down to the floor. Taking in a long breath, the sound of it a little too ragged for his liking, he rubbed his arm, turning on his heel so as to conceal his expression. He didn't like showing this kind of weakness to other people. "At least, I don't think so. A lot of things blended together durin' that time, Kudo. There's things that I don't quite remember right."

"It might help if you _could_ remember." Conan said, wincing almost as soon as the words came out of his mouth. "Sorry, Hattori, I didn't mean-"

"I know. I know ya didn't, Kudo." Heiji said, clenching his teeth, his grip on his arm tightening a little. There was no point in getting mad at him. "Sorry. I just need ta get some air fer a second."

Thankfully, Conan didn't try and stop him. Pulling up his hood, Heiji decided to take the stairs, making his way up towards the roof of their hotel. It wasn't until he was out there, in the slightly cold night air, that he felt himself breathing a little better. He was right- there might very well be something in his memories from that time that might help them, some kind of clue. There was no way that Absinthe could set up a fully functional lab within the span of a month, not in secret- it was possible that she already had this second lab up and running even before then. If that was the case, then there might have been something that she had let slip...

Even in the wide open space of the roof, silvery moonlight shining down, he found himself gagging. Reaching up to place a hand over his throat, he felt something tighten around it, as if it were coiling around his neck, cutting off his air supply. Croaking out a swear, he gripped the brick of entrance out onto the roof, trying to force himself to breathe, to stay steady on his feet. Wasn't there something else to distract himself with, something else to think about...?

Ah, that's right. His cellphone. He hadn't turned on his cellphone yet. He had turned it off while driving back from that town, and hadn't turned it back on yet. With a slightly shaking hand, he reached into his hoodie's pocket, slowly pulling it out. He missed the switch to turn it on the first time, but managed the second time, leaning against the wall, continuing to try and draw in breath as best he could.

It was alright. What he was feeling right now _wasn't real_. There was nothing that was keeping him from breathing. There was no rope, no noose around his neck, nor bare hands of a women he'd known since childhood around his neck, preventing him from drawing in breath. Besides, he was _Hattori Heiji_ , damnit- he was a _detective_ , and detectives weren't supposed to waver from something like _this_.

It was easy to tell himself, hard to actually believe.

"Lot of... messages." Heiji gasped out after a moment, managing to let out a faint chuckle as he sorted through them. Ones from Jodie and Yui alike, informing him about the discovery of the corpse- he shuffled through those in a hurry, getting to Yui's other messages, of which she had sent any number. Even if he hadn't been able to reply to her right away, he'd sent her a message informing her as much, so she shouldn't be worried, but...

Ah. They weren't about the corpse.

Slowly, Heiji found his breath coming easier to him as he scanned the other messages. Kazuha was staying overnight in Nagano, and was going to sleep in the same hotel room as that Aoko girl. A warning to be careful, because it appeared that one of the friends that Aoko had brought with her was also someone who called themselves a high school detective- a Hakuba Saguru, not that he'd ever heard the name before. She'd sent along a picture, and quite frankly, the guy looked like a _prick_.

By the time he got to the last message, his breathing was steady again- but it was this last message that made his breath catch in his throat once again, though for entirely different reasons this time. Nagano was a big place, he'd said. There was no way that they would run into each other as long as Yui was anywhere near her, he'd said.

He hadn't anticipated that the hotel they were going to be staying at would be the same one he was currently staying at. Yui's message was filled with a profuse apology that there was nothing that she could do to change their mind without earning their suspicion, and that he was just going to have to be extra careful.

The worst part was, was the fact that she had helpfully given him the room number of the room where Kazuha was staying in. It was just a floor underneath his own, in fact. Right now, as he read this message, Kazuha was probably there, closer to him than she had ever been in the past six months.

If he wanted to, he could go there right now and meet her. Snapping his phone shut and shoving it back away into his pocket, Heiji placed a hand over his face, mentally going over the reasons as to why exactly that he couldn't do that- it wasn't safe, it was dangerous, it would risk dragging Kazuha into this entire mess. It was good enough for him that she knew he was at least alive now, anything more than that was something he couldn't ask for.

So why, in spite of all that, did he want to go and see her anyways?


	18. Cracks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Heiji and Kaito cross paths once more, Amuro checks out a corpse, and Conan wishes that he'd seriously studied psychology.

He'd be lying if he tried to claim that he never got a bad case of pre-heist nerves. All the more so whenever the stakes were higher than usual- as they were this time. It wasn't just the fact that there was a chance that _those guys_ might show up, but it was also the matter of Aoko's would be kidnappers that was plaguing his mind. There were other worries as well- but those were the two that stuck out the most among them, the ones that mattered the most.

He wasn't normally one for wanting to be alone, but whenever he got a bad case of the nerves, the thing that he had found that helped him the most was having some time to himself. Considering that he had ended up sharing a hotel room with _Hakuba_ , thanks to Aoko's arrangements, such a thing wasn't possible in his own hotel room. He'd managed to make an excuse to shake the high school detective off of his back for the time being, enabling him to seek out a private place to get a breath of fresh air and steady himself. The roof had seemed like as good an idea as any.

But instead of finding a quiet place to shake off his case of nerves, so that he would be able to fall asleep that night, Kuroba Kaito instead found himself coming face to face with none other than the supposedly missing high school detective of the west, Hattori Heiji. Even with his hood pulled down low over his head, it was impossible not to recognize the young man who stood out whether he wanted to or not. Granted, he knew from the fact that his childhood friend was looking for him here that he was very likely in this very town, but the fact that he had appeared at the very same hotel they were staying at...

If that was a coincidence, then it was one hell of one.

"Fancy meeting you here, _Takahara-san_." The words came out from his mouth with ease, drawing a bit on his Kid persona in order to properly compose himself, using what he knew now was merely an alias without so much as blinking. Something about Heiji seemed slightly off today, compared to when he had met him last- although he couldn't place what it was. Whatever the case, if he were aware that he knew who he actually was now, there was a chance that he might not be able to get any answers from him at all. "Imagine the odds of the two of us running into each other like this again. Out for a breath of fresh air? You seem pretty frazzled."

"I was just thinkin' that myself, Kuroba-han." Heiji said slowly, narrowing his eyes, resisting the urge to raise a hand over his face. He had already checked to ensure that they were in place, so there should be no problems. This was careless though- this guy had been with Aoko, hadn't he? If that was the case, he might have already heard from Kazuha about who he actually was- but if he let him know that he knew that, he might risk exposing Yui's connection with him. "Ya followin' me or somethin'?"

Kudo was one thing, as were Yui and Jodie- but he didn't want to get a normal person wrapped up in this mess. If something were to happen to someone because of him... well, in a way, it was already too late for that. Someone already _had_ been hurt because of him- if it weren't for him, that person would be still be alive, living happily with his family, not turning up as a corpse. If he had died properly when he was supposed to, things wouldn't have turned out like this. It was a sense of responsibility that weighed heavily on him.

For a moment, his breath caught in his throat again, a prickling sensation around his neck like the feeling of nails digging against his skin. He had to shut his eyes to remind himself that it wasn't real, and that right now, he was still safe.

"Oi, are you okay?" His poker face slipped somewhat as Kaito took a step forward, a hint of concern on his face. Suspicious as he was, he didn't like that kind of expression on Heiji's face- nor did he like the raspy way he was breathing, as if he were struggling to do so. Come to think of it, Aoko had said something before, about him not seeming well the first time she had met him- maybe she had meant something like this? "Are you sick or something?"

His instincts told him that this wasn't a sickness, though- but something else. Something more mental- some kind of trauma, perhaps? In that case, what was it that had set it off? There was nothing that he had done that he thought would have caused it, at least not off the top of his head- unless there was something that had already been troubling Heiji even before he crossed paths with him. It would seem that Hakuba was right on one count at least- whatever this guy was involved in, it was probably something dangerous.

After a moment, Heiji's eyes slowly opened again, and his breathing gradually returned more or less to normal. " _M'fine_. Really. Just a short spell." He told him, grumbling a little at once again showing something like this to a virtual stranger- and one who was staring at him with suspicious eyes, none the less. Well, he couldn't exactly blame him. He had once again shown up where he was- he would have probably reacted the same way if their situations were reversed.

As he was now, he was an incredibly suspicious person. It had been mostly been a joke when she had said it, but Jodie was completely right about that. If this Kuroba Kaito had made contact with Kazuha and learned the truth about who he was, that he had lied to him about what his last name was, then he was doubtlessly all the more suspicious now.

Seriously, that Kazuha. She could teleport, so why was she spending the night in a hotel here? Even if she _had_ been invited by someone to spend the night with her, it wasn't like she needed to accept that offer- she could just as easily teleport home and sleep in her own bed. She must have been really that desperate to find him this time if she was refusing to go home.

Well, not that he could _blame_ her. He had been missing for the past six months after all- pretty much half a year. This was the first real lead she had on him ever since he had first left Osaka, so he could understand why she didn't want to leave that easily without turning up some kind of result- _especially_ since she had managed to finally run into someone who had crossed paths with him.

He could only hope that her being here wouldn't put her in danger- and that she wouldn't find out about the case of the mysterious missing corpse. If Kazuha were to ever learn about his ability, it was something that he wanted to tell her himself- it wasn't something that he wanted her to piece together from information gleaned from other people.

"If you say so." Lips twisting into a tight frown, Kaito looked rather unconvinced, even as Heiji's breathing grew steadier, until he didn't look half as frazzled as he did earlier. "But I was just about to ask if you were the one following us, Takahara-san. Aoko's here too, you know. Her father's the one in charge of the Kid Task Force after all, and after that incident, he didn't want to leave her at home by herself."

"Can't say that I blame him." Heiji told him, shaking his head. If he was going to play dumb, then two could play at that game. "So? What happened after that? I guess she's still safe an' sound fer the moment, from the sound of it. Otherwise I get the feelin' ya'd be out frantically searchin' fer her yerself."

"They're still looking for the culprit." Kaito told him frankly, narrowing his eyes. Whatever this guy was up to, it was true that he had saved Aoko. It wasn't as if he wasn't paying attention to what was going on around him- of course he had already heard about the corpse of the missing boy showing up. To think that if something had happened to stop it, Aoko might possibly have shared the same fate... no matter what happened, he couldn't allow something like that to happen. "But they've got no clues. The person who tried to kidnap her turned up dead, so he was probably just hired by someone else to do it."

"Is that so? Well, at least she's safe." Heiji asked, rubbing the back of his head, taking a few steps forward, so that he passed Kaito, even though it made his skin crawl to turn his back on someone like this. He was pretty damn sure he could take the likes of Kuroba Kaito, so there was no reason to react like this. Honestly- he hated feeling this way, hated feeling _unsafe_ in his own skin like this. It wasn't supposed to be like this, he wasn't supposed to be this sort of person.

He was supposed to be _tougher_ than this- _stronger_.

"Yeah." Kaito said, turning on his heel to watch him carefully, sensing the rather tense way his shoulders bunched up, even if he couldn't see it clearly. "She owes that to you. I don't know what it is that you're up to, but at the very least, I have you to thank for that. If you hadn't been there when you are..." he trailed off, narrowing his eyes, not even wanting to think about it more than he already had, "...I don't know what would have happened."

"What makes ya think that I'm up ta somethin', Kuroba-han?" Heiji asked, tucking his hands in his pockets, his eyes narrowing. "It's just a coincidence that I'm here, after all. I'm just a simple runaway."

"A simple runaway with enough pocket change to rent a hotel room?" Kaito asked. "They've already locked the doors for the night. Either you've been lurking around here since before then to find somewhere to sleep indoors for the night, or you broke in afterwards. But I don't think you're the type to do either of things, so you're probably a legitimate guest here."

"What, ya sound a bit like a detective there, Kuroba-han." Heiji paused, sparing a glance back towards him, unable to keep a slight look of amusement off of his face. "So? What is it that ya want me ta tell ya? It really is a coincidence that I'm here, just like I said before. I'm just as surprised ta see ya as you are me."

"Well, considering that's coming from a real detective, I'm flattered to hear that." Kaito said slowly, carefully gauging his reaction. He didn't miss the brief way that Heiji flinched, as much as he had tried to mask it. That was the reaction of someone who had spent quite a bit of time running from anyone who realized that much, without a doubt. He might be a detective, but in his line of work, it paid to learn what even the most minor of facial cues meant. "Just so you know, after the incident with Aoko, someone came around asking her questions about you."

"What sort of person?" Heiji slowly asked, forcing himself to pull his eyes away from him, getting the feeling that this guy was reading too much off of him as it was already. Maybe he'd been too quick to dismiss him as a normal person. "Did ya tell them anythin' about me?"

"We didn't. I got a bad feeling from him." Kaito told him honestly, watching as he turned away from him. He had been so suspicious of him the first time that they had met, that he hadn't really noticed it then- but this guy had been through something, hadn't he? If he was a runaway, what exactly was it that he was running _from_? "It was a dark skinned man with blonde hair, around his late twenties. Called himself Amuro Tooru. Showed us your picture."

"Amuro Tooru, huh?" That was the name of the mysterious part time who had suddenly shown up at the cafe underneath the Mouri Detective Agency, Heiji recalled. Conan had told him as much. If he was asking questions about him, it would appear that Conan's theory was right- that this guy probably was somehow connected to the Organization. It would appear that the Organization didn't know exactly what it was that Absinthe was planning either, not if they were investigating her activities. "Thanks fer the heads up then, Kuroba-han. I appreciate it."

"Well, if that's all," Heiji told him, taking a step down the first stair, a tight frown on his face. "...then I'll be on my way."

"She's here, you know." Kaito said slowly, gaze fixing on Heiji's back, watching as he froze for a moment, not even needing him to elaborate on who he meant. So he knew that his childhood friend was in town- did he have some kind of source of information? "Your childhood friend has been looking for you, Hattori-kun."

"...So ya _do_ know my name." Heiji muttered underneath his breath, reaching up a hand to rub the back of his neck. Pausing to turn on his heel, locking eyes with him, he sent a warning look towards Kaito. "I don't know what it is that ya think of me, or what it is that ya think my intentions are, but don't ya dare tell her anythin' about me. As far as she's concerned, I'm not here."

"She's worried about you." Kaito said, narrowing his eyes. There was an amazing amount of ferocity contained within those of Hattori Heiji's- almost enough to make him want to take a step backwards. He wouldn't, though. "I hear you disappeared from Osaka six months ago, and that nobody's heard from you since. You're involved in something dangerous, aren't you? That's what lead you to Aoko."

"So what if I am? It's got nothin' ta do with ya, Kuroba-han." Heiji told him shortly. "A normal person like yerself is better off stayin' uninvolved. It's safer that way. Fer both you an' yer childhood friend. She's still in danger, ya know. If ya _really_ want ta do somethin' ta help, then stay by her side, an' don't let her out of yer sights. Anythin' more risks ya get involved in all of this."

Heaving a long sigh, feeling his shoulders slumping somewhat, Kaito managed to cast him something of a small smile, hoping to disarm him somewhat. It didn't seem to work. "I won't tell her that you're here, since you seem that concerned about it. You shouldn't make a nice girl like that worry about you though, Hattori-kun."

"...Thanks." Closing his eyes after a second, Heiji let out a long breath. "Yer better off stayin' out of my business, Kuroba-han. Tell that ta that _other_ high school detective ya've got stayin' with ya as well. Nothin' good comes from gettin' involved with me, at least not these days."

"What exactly is it that you're running from?" Kaito asked. Perhaps the two of them had more in common than he had first thought that they did- although at the very least, he had the privilege of still being able to live a normal life. "I hear your father is the chief of Osaka's police force. Why not have him help you?"

"I can't." Heiji told him simply, shaking his head, turning back around on his heel. "I can't tell ya anythin' more. Ya just need ta concentrate on keepin' yer own childhood friend safe, an' don't worry about some random stranger than ya might never meet again."

"Is that why you can't see her?" Kaito asked again. He knew that he didn't need to clarify who he meant- Heiji would understand. "Because you're trying to keep her safe?"

"...Somethin' like that." With a slight wave of his hand, Heiji continued back down the stairs, not sparing Kaito so much as a second glance. If there was one good thing about this conversation, it was that it had served as a suitable distraction for him- he wasn't nearly feeling half as restricted as he had been even minutes ago. Still, as free as he felt now, he could imagine that he was in for trouble tonight- he could only hope that he wouldn't trouble Conan too much. With any luck, maybe the kid was a deep sleeper. "It was nice talkin' ta ya again, Kuroba-han."

Watching as Heiji made his way down the stairs, quickly vanishing from his sight, Kaito let out a long breath, feeling a certain amount of tension wash out from his shoulders that he hadn't entirely realized had been there. He was more than likely simply reacting to Heiji's own tension- he really didn't like people learning who he was without his input, did he? However, given the sort of thing that it seemed like he was involved with, he could hardly say that he blamed him.

Even without any details, even without him having told him as much, what had become painfully obvious to him during their conversation that whatever Hattori Heiji was running from, it was indeed very dangerous. The other thing that he had gathered was that he was the type who didn't want to drag other people into his mess- not unless they could handle it, at the very least. He was running not just because he wanted to stay one step ahead of whoever was chasing him, but because he didn't want to involve the people around him.

Either way, this was information that he would have to share with Hakuba later. Because if someone warned him not to involve himself in something that was already putting Aoko in danger, there was no way that he was going to listen to them. After all, he wasn't a normal person himself- Kuroba Kaito might not be able to do anything against whatever shadowy danger was lurking just beyond his line of vision- but Kaito Kid could.

And _would_.

That said, _man_ , this conversation had done _absolutely nothing_ to help his case of the nerves. At least the rooftop was free now.  
_______________________________________________________________________

"So?" Barely sparing a glance towards the young man who got into her car, Vermouth only slightly shifted her gaze, reaching down to pull her car out of park. "You did get a chance to look at the corpse, didn't you, Bourbon?"

"Of course I did. It wasn't easy though." Amuro said simply, strapping on his seatbelt, as the blonde woman in the driver's seat placed her hands on the wheel, heading out onto the street. "It's just as you thought. Of course, there's no real way to test for it, but the fact that the police examiners can't find anything that would have lead to the victim's death more or less confirms that they were probably poisoned by Apotoxin. If you were looking for confirmation that Absinthe is definitely behind these kidnappings, it would appear that you've found it."

"Furthermore, there's signs that the victim might have been subjected to experiments before they were killed. And likely afterwards, as well." Amuro told her, glancing over towards the blonde woman, watching as she didn't even flinch at the information. Whether it was simply because she didn't care, or because she had already suspected that much herself, that much even he couldn't determine. Well, given her line of work, someone being captured and used as a human test subject probably wasn't enough to make her flinch, even if the victim in question was only seventeen years old.

"I see." Vermouth said simply, fixing her gaze on the road ahead. "It would appear that Absinthe has been quite busy indeed. More than likely, if she discarded the body, then the victim didn't give her whatever it was that she was looking for."

"And that would be?" Amuro asked, now turning his gaze on full towards her. He already had a running theory in the works himself- although he had yet to completely confirm that Hattori Heiji was in fact alive, were such a thing to be true, more than likely that was what would have caught Absinthe's attention.

If he played his cards right here, it was possible that this investigation might very well lead him into the heart of what it was that the Organization was interested in. There was no way that he could pass up a chance like this, no matter what it was that he had to do in order to obtain the information that he needed. If he could use this to help further his goals, then there was nothing that he wouldn't do- even if he had to sacrifice a few people, if it meant bringing down the Organization in the process, then at the very least, their deaths wouldn't be in vain.

Still, he would be lying if he claimed that the knowledge of the fate that was befalling the missing teenagers- children, really- sat easily with him. The Organization hadn't yet hardened his heart to that extent.

"Who knows. I can't quite say at the moment." Vermouth said simply, switching on her turn signal, carefully changing lanes. "And? What did you end up telling the police in the end? If necessary, the Organization can cut ties with Absinthe to protect itself, but the less the police known about the situation, the better."

"Nothing more than needed." Amuro told her simply, closing his eyes for a moment, drawing in and letting out a deep breath. "I know those eyes though- the ones that I saw in that female detective especially. They're not going to give up on this case that easily, that much I can already tell."

"If that's the case, you had better hurry up and track down where it is that Absinthe has set up her new lab, Bourbon. We wouldn't want them getting there before us." Vermouth advised him, her brows furrowing together slightly in thought. "I've been asking around as much as I can, and it would appear that none of the other members know where it is either. The only one that they knew about was the one in Gunma."

"You don't need to worry about that." Amuro said simply, a smirk crossing his features as his eyes opened once more. "Since you've taken the trouble of calling me all the way out here, I'll be certain to do my job properly, Vermouth. I'll uncover both what Absinthe is doing, as well as where she is, before the police or the FBI have any chance to make a move on her."

There was no way he was going to allow something like this to go over his head and to the FBI, after all. Not in his country- not in his Japan. If anyone was going to deal with this matter, it was going to be him. It didn't matter to him much which identity he concluded the matter with- whether it was the Organization's Bourbon, or the Secret Police's Furuya Rei, as long as he could use it to both dig himself deeper into the Organization, all while dealing a strong blow against them at the same time.

For that, there was very little he wasn't willing to do.  
___________________________________________________________________

"He's here? In this hotel?"

When Kaito once again pulled him aside, Hakuba got a feeling that he knew what it was that he wanted to talk to him about already. Still, he didn't expect that the one he wanted to ask questions of was so close to them. According to what Kaito had told him, it would appear that Hattori Heiji's presence in this city had nothing at all to do with the presence of Nakamori Aoko, and was a pure coincidence- but he didn't know exactly how much faith he could put in those words. It was possible that he was lying.

It was also possible that he had already left the hotel now that his existence here had been exposed. For someone who had been in hiding for the past six months, it wouldn't entirely be unexpected behavior. All the more so because Kaito had informed him that his childhood friend was here, searching for him- it would appear that he didn't want anyone to find him, even her, based of the words that had been passed along to him.

As well as his warning. The fact that he was aware of both Hakuba's presence here, as well as his reputation, was something that quickly earned his suspicion. If it really was a coincidence like he claimed it was, and he hadn't been monitoring them, then it likely meant that there was someone feeding him information among those that they had met. Just as he thought, it would appear that he did have allies of some kind. For a moment, his thoughts briefly dwelled on the aforementioned childhood friend- but the impression that he got from Toyama Kazuha was that of someone who really hadn't heard from Heiji even once in the past six months. If she was acting, she was doing a splendid job of it.

Which raised the question of who it was- and _why_.

There were far too many questions of _why_. Why had Hattori Heiji vanished from Osaka, six months ago? Why was he not even in contact with his father, who ranked highly among the police? Why had he intervened when he had to rescue Nakamori Aoko from being kidnapped, and why was he aware that she was going to be targeted in the first place? Why had another suspicious man shown up, asking questions about him? Why was he here, now, in this very hotel?

There was critical information that he was missing here, but he didn't doubt for a second that he was deeply connected to the events that were currently transpiring around Japan. What that connection was, he couldn't entirely say. On the surface, it would appear that he was working against the interest of the one behind them- but it wasn't impossible that was an act. If he was working with someone, then who was it? What were their intentions? And what were Heiji's own intentions?

Perhaps these questions would have been easier to answer had he ever met his fellow high school detective before. But as it were, he'd never met either the high school detective of the west, nor the equally missing high school detective of the east. That was another question of course- did the disappearance of Kudo Shinichi have anything to do with the disappearance of Hattori Heiji? From what he had understood, it would appear that Shinichi had made contact with his friends and family, and even his classmates, several times already.

Hattori Heiji had not. He'd gone so far as to instruct Kaito not to inform Kazuha that he was here- something that Kaito had apparently readily agreed to.

"He's here." Kaito said, nodding his head. "Probably still here, judging from the impression that I gathered of him. He was concerned about the fact that I knew who he was, but I don't think he's under the impression that my knowledge will in any way endanger him. Well, even though I said that, I don't know what room he's in. We could ask at the front desk, but since I'm doubtful he registered using his real name, I don't think it would do us much good."

"That's true." Hakuba noted, putting a hand to his chin, losing himself deep in thought. "And it's not as if we can simply knock on every door in the hotel, looking for him. He probably wouldn't answer anyways."

Heaving a long sigh, Hakuba dropped his hand, his gaze trailing over towards Kaito, a deep set frown on his face. "And? What kind of impression did you get from him, Kuroba-kun? Judging from what you said, it doesn't appear that he was willing to open up to you any, even when you confronted him with his real name."

"He opened up enough to let me in on the fact that he's in a dangerous situation." Kaito told him, his brows furrowing together as he recalled the strange way that he had spaced out when they had first met, his breath catching in his throat almost as if he were unable to breathe for a moment. "He's been through _something_. I can tell that much, although I can't tell what it is. It's not impossible that whoever is behind these recent kidnappings might have once had Hattori-kun in their custody as well. "

"It's highly possible." Hakuba noted, turning slightly on his heel, beginning to pace the room somewhat, trying to gather together his thoughts. "Either he managed to escape, or he struck some kind of bargain with his captors in order to free himself. Well, the latter still wouldn't explain why he helped Nakamori-san escape from them, though."

"I don't think he's working with those people." Kaito told him, shaking his head, giving Hakuba a small smile when he turned in his direction, something of a skeptical look on his face. "That's the impression that I got from him. You asked me for that, remember? Certainly, he's suspicious, I won't deny that much, but I don't think he's involved with those people, whoever they might be."

"Well, I will admit that you do have good intuition, Kuroba-kun." Hakuba said after a moment, heaving a long sigh. "And it's only just a possibility that he might be working with them, and not one that I'm very fond of either. I just think it's best not to dismiss any options unless there's proof against them."

"Should we look for him?" Kaito asked. "Well, he seemed pretty intent on keeping me out of the investigation, but he might open up to a fellow high school detective. Well, although he did say to keep you out of it as well."

"There's no way I can _stay out_ of this matter." Hakuba said sharply, turning on his heel to face him. "Not when someone I know is danger, and was nearly kidnapped. Furthermore," After a long moment, he let another long sigh escape from him, placing a hand on his forehead. It was true that he didn't want anyone worrying about him, however in the interest of any further cooperation, it might be wise for him to open up all the way to Kaito. If something happened to him over the course of the investigation, then it was imperative for some to know, rather.

"...it's there. My name is on that list as well."

"...eh?" Blinking, half unsure that he'd heard him right, Kaito could only tilt his head for a moment. "Come again?"

"I'm the same as Nakamori-san." Hakuba said simply, not knowing how else to put it. "My name is on that list as well. I also tested positive back then for potentially possessing an ability."

"You did?" For a moment finding himself dumbfounded by this revelation, unsure how to take it, Kaito could only blink. Quickly gathering his composure again, he hurriedly drew the conclusion that Hakuba was trying to lead him to. "So in other words, there's a chance that you might be in danger as well? Why are you not hiding back in England if that's the case?"

"Considering it's highly likely that the kidnapping of the Saint of Russia, and these recent kidnappings are connected, I doubt hiding myself away in England would do me much good." Hakuba pointed out. "I'm hardly the type to run away just because a situation might be a bit dangerous, Kuroba-kun, all the more so when innocent people are in danger themselves. I _am_ a detective, after all."

"Does the Inspector know about this?" Kaito asked after a moment, doubtful that he did, considering how easily he had accepted Hakuba's help.

"No, he doesn't. I intend to keep it that way as well." Hakuba said simply, shaking his head. "At any rate, staying out of this investigation was never an option for me from the start. One way or another, it's likely that I would eventually get mixed up in it myself."

"So it would seem." Kaito said after a moment, scratching the back of his head. He didn't really know what else to say to that- so it was best to change the topic for the time being. "So? What do you want to do? Look for him? Like I said, he might very well still be in the hotel."

"No, I don't think it would do us much good." Hakuba told him, shaking his head. "Rather, if we search for him clumsily, it might cause his problems. If he really is working against the people responsible for all of this, that's something we want to avoid. That said, I still would _very much_ like to have the chance to speak with this Hattori-kun for myself, to try and find out what's really going on here from him."

Something big. That much he knew without even having to be told.  
_________________________________________________________________________

Ever since becoming Edogawa Conan, he'd had his fair share of nightmares. About shrinking back down in front of everyone, about his secret being exposed to the worst possible people, about something happening to Ran, about the _pain_. The process that had turned him into this had been hellishly painful, and the process of turning back into Kudo Shinichi was all the more so. Still, if given the option, he'd gladly endure that pain over and over again if it meant that he would have a chance to tell Ran what was truly in his heart. There was no amount of pain in the world that would prevent him from doing that.

So for a moment, he thought that the nightmare induced utterances that stirred him from his sleep were those of his own. It took him a full minute before he began to slowly process that this wasn't the case, and that the words, indistinct and jumbled up though they were, were being spoken nevertheless with a very distinct Osakan accent. No sooner than he realized this, did he remember where he was, and who was with him- and such a thing had him sitting bolt upright in bed, wide awake.

He hadn't quite pictured Heiji as the type for nightmares, but it would appear that was the case. Reflecting on it, it was perhaps foolish to assume otherwise- from the way Ai had put it, it was very likely that while Heiji wasn't carrying any darkness in him, he was carrying a great trauma. Slowly swinging his legs out of bed, making the short leap down to the floor, Conan made his way over towards Heiji's bed. Now that he was wide awake, it would appear that he was very deeply in the throes of a rather intense nightmare, one that almost seemed to threaten to consume him.

"Oi, Hattori?" Speaking up, Conan almost flinched as his friend let out another strangled cry, and prayed that the walls of this hotel were rather thick, not wanting to risk someone from the hotel staff coming to pound on their door at... what time was it anyways? It didn't really matter much, he supposed. Waking Heiji up was far more important than knowing what time it was. He couldn't let this go on.

"Hattori!" Throwing his friend's covers off, Conan sucked in his breath. He wasn't certain what he expected to find, but what he did sent a small surge of panic shooting through him at once. "Oi, Hattori, don't do that!" Reaching out to take Heiji's hands, he tried to still their motion, clenching his teeth at the sight of the scratches that he had made around his own throat, as if he were working to get something off of his neck. Something would heal up with no issues with his ability, but that didn't mean he was just going to sit around and let him do that to himself- what the hell kind of nightmare was he having? "Hattori, wake up! You're only just having a nightmare!"

Perhaps, in retrospect, he _hadn't_ made the best decision here. At the very least, his actions caused Heiji to remove his hands from his own throat- because instead, they moved to lash out on whoever it was that was placing their own hands on him. Swearing underneath his breath, futilely trying to pry Heiji's hands from around his own throat, Conan grimaced, unable to think of anything else but getting them off of him for the moment. With as much force as he could muster, he shifted one of his legs, ramming his knee into Heiji's chin, hoping to shock him awake.

He should have known. He should have realized that touching him like this, when he was in the throes of an obviously violent nightmare, was a bad idea- he'd just grievously underestimated how much of one. Thankfully, his tactic seemed to have worked- as he felt Heiji's hands slip from his throat, allowing him to gaps for breath, instinctively rubbing where they had just been. Even unconscious, Heiji had one hell of a grip- as expected of someone who practiced kendo.

Did he have nightmares like this _every_ night?

"...Kudo?"

At the sound of Heiji's voice, Conan merely cast him a small smile, still gingerly rubbing his neck. There was no way that wasn't going to leave a weird bruise- he was lucky that he had brought something with a high collar along with him. The deep scratches around Heiji's own throat were already healing themselves, the only trace that they had ever been there were the flakes of blood and skin underneath his own nails.

"You finally woke up, Hattori. You were having one hell of a nightmare." Conan told him, slowly moving off of his bed, trying to give him some space. "You should have warned me in advance if you were prone to them."

"...Sorry." Slowly blinking awake, Heiji pushed himself up into a sitting position, averting his eyes from the shrunken detective for a moment, briefly wondering why his chin was throbbing. Running a hand through his hair, he took in and let out a deep breath, trying to steady himself, still feeling his heart pounding loudly inside of his chest. Placing his own hand over it, his eyes narrowed for a moment, a shudder racking his body as the voice that he couldn't forget even if he wanted to twisted through his mind, entwining around it like a snake.

_"I've been wondering for awhile, you know. If I take out something this important, will you still move?"_

"Are you going to be alright, Hattori?" Far more worried about Heiji than himself, Conan's brows furrowed together, looking up at him. In the darkness of the hotel room, the Hattori Heiji that he was being shown was one that seemed completely at odds with the still cheerful, quick to grin young man that he had come to know over the past few days. It was a Hattori Heiji that wasn't even able to meet his eyes, a Hattori Heiji that even though he was now wide awake, was clearly still trapped within his own nightmare. A Hattori Heiji that had been created by what he had experienced in the past six months-

What the hell had that woman done to him, to cause something like this? To think that there was someone like that roaming free even now... to think that the Organization had given someone like _that_ the license she needed to conduct such experiments- it was more than enough to make his blood boil.

" _M'fine_." Heiji muttered, not quite able to bring himself to look at him, even though he could feel Conan's gaze on him. "I'll be _fine_ , Kudo. Nothin' I haven't gone through before. Why don't ya go back ta sleep? It's not good fer kids ta be up this late at night."

"You're obviously _not_ fine, Hattori." Narrowing his eyes, Conan folded his arms in front of his chest, putting as resolute an expression on his face as he could manage in his current form. "I have nightmares myself, but they're nothing compared to what you were just going through. That's _not_ normal."

"It's _fine_." Heiji stressed again, finally turning to look at him, casting a rather fierce glower down towards him- one that faltered a little as he took note of the darkening color around his throat, in the distinct shape of hand. He didn't even need to ask to know that he'd lashed out again- and towards someone who couldn't even defend himself as well as Jodie could. "They'll go away on their own eventually."

"Hattori..." Conan began, heaving a long sigh, not missing the guilt that surged through his eyes as he doubtlessly realized what he had done. He wasn't about to blame him for it- it hadn't been something he'd done consciously after all. "How long have you been having nightmares like this?"

"It doesn't matter." Turning away from Conan again, Heiji narrowed his eyes, before finally letting out a sigh of his own, sensing his rival's gaze not shifting from him. "...A month. Ever since _then_. But it's _fine_. I'm handlin' it."

"Hattori, you tried to _strangle_ me." Conan pointed out. The way his frank words caused his friend to flinch almost made him want to take them back- but instead, he pressed on. "That kind of reaction isn't normal. You _know_ that. That's not even getting started on the fact that you were clawing at your own throat, which is what I was trying to get you to stop doing in the first place."

"Doesn't matter." Heiji repeated, half mumbling his words to himself. Heaving another long, frustrated sigh, he got to his feet, throwing what little covers remained over him, off of him, getting out of bed. Stalking over towards the window, making sure that the curtains were tightly drawn, he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down somewhat. "S'not like it can kill me anyways. Ya should have just left me, that way ya wouldn't have gotten hurt." There was a pause then, as he slowly glanced back towards him. "...I'm sorry, though."

"Even if it can't kill you, that doesn't mean it doesn't _hurt_. You were obviously in pain." Conan pointed out, taking a step forward. "Listen, I know we only just met not that long ago, but you can talk to me if you need to, Hattori. We've _both_ got our own issues in life because of _them_ , you know."

"I don't _need_ ta talk." Turning away from the window, Heiji stalked over towards the bathroom, scooping up the discarded pile of clothes that he had thrown on top of the dresser. "I'm just goin' ta get some fresh air. I'll be _fine_ , Kudo. I'm not so weak that I need someone ta break down ta."

"It's not about being weak or strong, Hattori." Conan told him, his brows knitting together. He'd been so distracted by how well Heiji seemed to be handling everything on the surface, that he'd managed to _completely miss_ the fact that he was actually only just badly covering up the fact that he wasn't handling it _at all_. He'd learned to gradually cope with his state of affairs, as much as he never stopped hating it- for Heiji, it was completely different. "There's not... there's not any shame in admitting that you need _help_."

Although _he_ was a fine one to say that.

"I _don't_." Heiji snapped, glowering back towards him. "Just leave me be, if ya really wanna help, Kudo."

" _Hattori_ -" Conan began again.

"Just give me some space, Kudo." Heiji cut him off, gathering his clothes up, and closing the bathroom door behind him. He didn't even so much as get a chance to say anything when he emerged from it again, once more fully dressed, before Heiji stalked out of their hotel room, twitching the hood of his jacket back up.

It was only once he was gone, that Conan managed to breathe properly again, feeling his shoulders slump. The tension in the room had been so thick, he could have cut it with a knife. Clicking his tongue, he briefly considered going after him- but decided against it. In this situation, if he kept pressing him, nothing good would come from it.

"Idiot." Conan mumbled underneath his breath, his brows knotting together, as he scratched his head, wondering how he should approach this. There was no way he could let it be. "You're the one who decided to insist that we're friends. What's the point of that if I can't do anything to help you?"

He could work to put Absinthe and Ginger behind bars, could work towards bringing down the Organization so that neither of them had to live in hiding anymore- but even if he could do those things, if there was nothing that he could do about the deeper issues that they created, what good was he?

Heaving another sigh, Conan made his way into the bathroom, glancing up towards the counter where Heiji had thrown his night clothes rather haphazardly on the counter, half falling into the sink. "You could at least clean up a little up after yourself." He mumbled, standing on his toes to scoop them up, wanting to place them somewhere else. The sound of something clattering on the floor as he did so caught his attention, and he frowned, glancing down towards his feet, wondering what it might be.

"A contact lens case?" Kneeling down, he tucked Heiji's clothes underneath one arm, picking it up carefully. It wasn't his, which left only one option. "Why does Hattori have something like this? He doesn't have any vision problems."

Cracking the case open, his frown only deepened as he realized that it was completely empty. Once again, the vague feeling that there was still something that Heiji hadn't told him yet came back to him, and carefully, he placed it back on the counter where he had found it, once more tossing the clothes that he'd had just picked up back over it. He probably hadn't meant to leave it out in the open- and as much as he half wanted to confront him about it, even he could sense that now _wasn't_ a good time.

For the moment, it was best to pretend that he hadn't seen it.


	19. Disappearing Corpses

They weren't in.

It wasn't that easy to tell, but Conan was almost entirely certain that whatever those contacts were that Heiji had been hiding, he wasn't wearing them right now. Last night, when he had finally returned back to the hotel room, he was almost entirely certain that he had been- he had only been pretending to be asleep when the Osakan detective returned near the crack of dawn, at the very least looking somewhat calmer than he had been when he'd left. But today, as they headed out for another day of questioning, it didn't appear that he was wearing them.

He'd considered searching his belongings when Heiji was in the bathroom that morning, but decided against it. Living on the run probably would have made him more sensitive to something like that than normal people- living in hiding in his own way had certainly done that much to _him_. If he caught him out at it, it probably wouldn't end well.

There had been such an uneasy mood between them that morning that Conan was half convinced that Heiji might try and leave without him. He'd been doing his best to act like his usual cheerful self, but after last night's display, he wasn't certain how much of that he actually _bought_. All in all, it created something of a strained atmosphere between the two of them. Even though Yui had sent him a message informing him that Aoko and her friends, and more importantly, Kazuha, had already left the hotel for the day, there was still a nervous edge to him when they left their hotel room, and entered into the lobby.

Thankfully, it seemed as if it hadn't occurred to Kazuha to show Heiji's picture around to the hotel staff, or other guests staying there. She probably wasn't under the impression that she would find him in such a place- and it would appear that Kaito had kept his promise. Regardless, the risk was too high that they might run into each other, which was what lead Heiji to make the choice of checking them out, something which he ran by Yui before doing so. For the time being, they would find another hotel to stay in, something which they wrapped up before leaving for another day of investigation.

Since it would create just as many problems for him if Kazuha saw him here, Conan wasn't about to argue about it. Sure, he could just claim that he had come to Nagano with his mother to see the Kid heist- but there was a chance that Kazuha would want to see his mother. And while his _actual_ mother was more than willing to come basically whenever he called her, at the drop of a hat, unlike Kazuha, she couldn't teleport, and there was no way she would be able to make it to Nagano that quickly.

Besides, that might require introducing his mother to Heiji- and somehow, he didn't think that would go over very well. Not because he didn't think they would get along- on the contrary, they would probably get along _too_ well. They had a rather similar edge to their personalities, and he didn't doubt that they wouldn't hesitate to tag team tease him, if given half the chance.

"Hattori." Finally speaking up to the Osakan detective for the first time since they had parked the rented motorcycle, choosing a different location to do so this time. "About last night..."

"I already said that I don't wanna talk about it, Kudo." Casting a glance down towards him, Heiji pulled his hood lower around his face, narrowing his eyes. "Don't make me go over it again."

"It's not that." Conan said, shaking his head. First things first, he had to at least try and get their relationship back to normal. Trying to get him to open up would have to wait for a little later, until he was a bit more ready to do that. In the mean time, he'd keep a close eye on him for any obvious signs of trouble. "I said a bit too much last night. Sorry."

Judging from the slight frown that crossed his features, it was obvious that Heiji hadn't expected to get an apology. After a moment, he heaved a sigh, rubbing the back of his neck, casting an almost sheepish glance back down towards him. "It's okay. Yer only just worried about me, I guess. Can't say I blame ya, considerin'..." Though he might have trailed off there, the way his eyes darted down towards the high neck of the shirt Conan had chosen today, made it all too obvious what he meant. "I'm sorry about that too, Kudo. I didn't really mean ta... well, do somethin' like _that_."

"I understand." Conan said simply, shaking his head. While it did leave a pair of bruises around his neck that would be rather hard to explain, he just had to be careful not let anyone see them until they began to heal. In the meantime, he'd just have to think of a good cover story for them- the last thing he wanted was for him to return back to the Mouri Detective Agency without a convincing excuse. Things would only get complicated if Ran got the idea in her head that perhaps his mother was abusing him, or something along those lines.

"Just... just keep my offer in mind at least, Hattori." Conan said after a moment, almost hesitating to say it. That strained atmosphere between them seemed to have lightened after his apology, and he didn't exactly want to risk it coming back. Still, he thought it needed to be said. They were in this together, even if their situations were different- at the very least, they could try and support each other. "I'm not saying you have to talk to me about it right now, if you don't want to, but just keep in mind that it's on the table, at least."

There was a slight pause then, as Heiji turned his gaze away from him, eyes narrowing underneath the shadow of his hood. Even if he wanted to talk to someone about it, where would he even start? His wasn't exactly a situation that anyone else would be able to relate to. And quite honestly? He didn't really want to admit the degree of which what had happened to him in that place was still troubling him, not to anyone. He was supposed to be stronger than this, after all- he was the great high school detective of the west, clever and capable of solving any mystery that came his way!

He wasn't _supposed_ to be the sort to be kept awake at night by vivid nightmares, to suffer from traumatic flashbacks at the mere mention of a word, or a certain turn of phrase. He didn't doubt that both of his parents would be able to stand up tall and strong even if they had endured something like he had- the fact that he couldn't do it made him feel almost nothing short of a failure.

Even if it was probably one of his parents who had kept the truth from him all this time to begin with. That, at least, he thought he could understand why, if not quite the how- a mystery that Conan didn't really seem to have any leads on either. Heiji did have one hunch in regards to that, at the very least- but these were questions that he would have to wait to ask until he got back to Tokyo.

It wasn't _Conan_ he needed to ask them of, after all.

"...yeah." After a long moment, Heiji finally managed to get out a response, giving what he knew was a strained smile towards the shrunken detective. Offer or no, it wasn't like he could unload his own problems on Conan- guy had more than his own fair share of problems, and Heiji didn't really want to add to them. "I'll keep it in mind."

"Good." Conan said, nodding his head. "What's the plan for today, Hattori? I don't think there's many people in this town that we haven't talked to already. You might have even raised a few eyebrows yesterday as it was, there's a chance that people might be tighter lipped than they were before."

"Thought I'd change the angle of approach a little." Heiji told him, a slightly stronger grin making it's way onto his face, breathing easier now that the subject had passed. "If Absinthe was spotted in this area, there's a chance that she might have some kind of property somewhere around here. I thought I would ask around ta see if there has been any strange activity or any large purchases made in the town or the surroundin' area that anyone knows about."

"That's true." Placing a hand on his chin in thought, Conan nodded his head. "I doubt she would be making such obvious moves if her lab was anywhere nearby, but she might own _something_ around here that she was checking up on. It's worth checking out, at the very least."

"I'd suggest we split up ta cover more ground, but uh..." In a way, the bright grin that surfaced on his face almost head Conan breathing easier himself- even if the words that followed had him glowering at Heiji. "...somehow I don't think people are gonna take a brat askin' questions about real estate all that seriously."

" _Shut up_."  
______________________________________________________________________

Given the nature of the case that he was dealing with at the moment, it wasn't that Kansuke didn't expect some either high profile agencies or high profile names coming by to inquire about the sighting of the kidnapped Saint of Russia. That had already happened- both the Russians and the FBI had already come with inquires about the case in question. Those were two groups that he rather expected to see come about. One such person he didn't expect, however, was _Hattori Heizo_.

He knew of the reputation of Osaka prefecture's police chief- how could he not, really? That said, he'd never actually had cause to meet the man before- although on occasion, the police forces of different prefectures would work together, no such collaboration had happened between Osaka and Nagano, at least not to the degree that it required the former's very head to come all the way out here himself.

And it rather quickly became apparent to him that Heizo's interest in him did not lie in the case he was currently dealing with- but rather, a case that was a tad bit older. Four months older, in fact. Just as he had heard of him, the man was rather direct about the information that he wanted- but was also very carefully choosing his words. That much made it rather obvious that there was something that he knew about this affair that not only was he not letting on, but it seemed as if he wasn't inclined to tell him in the first place.

Vaguely, he couldn't help but wonder if Heizo's interest in the case of the disappearing corpse was somehow personal. He was almost entirely certain by now that the mysterious freeloader that Yui had been looking after since then was the same person, somehow, as the corpse that had vanished. What he didn't know, and what he didn't understand, was what his connection to Heizo could be.

Reflecting back on what he had heard recently, however, he was slowly starting to come to a conclusion.

"I certainly have no issues in telling you about the case." Kansuke told him frankly, carefully judging the older man in front of him- not that he gave him much to work with. He was a guarded man, this Hattori Heizo. "Though I can't help but be curious as to why the superintendent supervisor of Osaka's police force would come out all this way himself to inquire about the matter. Surely one of your subordinates could have...?"

"It's a matter I would much rather handle myself." Heizo said simply. What he had heard about Yamato Kansuke didn't appear to be misplaced- the man was clearly gifted at his job- and what's more, given the very faint reaction he showed upon learning that what Heizo was interested in was the matter of the vanishing corpse from four months ago, he got the distinct feeling that there was something that he likely knew about the matter. Regardless of how capable the man was, he would rather leave this place without letting him in on the truth- he didn't know what kind of people might be chasing Heiji, nor where they had their ears. There was even a chance that Osaka's police headquarters weren't even safe.

The less word spread that he was looking for his son, the better. Although it hadn't been highly publicized, it wasn't entirely uncommon knowledge that Heiji had been missing for the past six months. Although the matter had been looked into by his own personnel before this- his only son was missing, of course he had looked into it prior to knowing what he knew now- he would be very surprised if whoever it was that was looking for him didn't already know of his brief stint in Nagano as a corpse.

Provided that they hadn't been the ones to _cause_ said stint.

He was also curious about what it was that he seemed to think he had come here for in the first place- other than the Kid heist, he hadn't heard any recent news come out from Nagano that sounded it would be along the lines of something that would catch his attention. There were the cases of mass kidnapping- but given the way that he didn't directly refer to said cases, which were already common knowledge, it had him suspecting it was something else. If that were the case, then it was possible that something was currently going on behind the scenes.

Something that Nagano's police wanted to keep quiet about.

Something might very well be worth looking into. It could be unrelated to the matter at hand- and Heizo had long since dismissed the chance that the recent mass kidnappings of children on the potential Powered list could be an utter coincidence, unrelated to his son's own missing status- but he doubted it.

Narrowing his eye only slightly, Kansuke briefly locked eyes with the man, wondering exactly how much he should tell him about this matter. From the sound of it, this mysterious freeloader of Yui's was wrapped up in some rather complicated circumstances. He didn't know what those circumstances were, other than that they involved the one behind the recent string of kidnappings- as well as the abduction of the Saint of Russia. Someone who had been able to pull of something like that probably had a rather long reach- she most likely had some rather powerful associates somewhere.

"It's true that a corpse matching that description did show up here around four months ago." Kansuke confirmed, giving him a rather curt nod of his head. It would likely be even more suspicious if he didn't share what otherwise would likely be odd, but ultimately unimportant information with someone much higher up in rank than he was. "Although the coroners didn't have time to go over it before it disappeared, the cause of death was obviously the multiple bullet wounds it had sustained, including a few that were still lodged in the body."

For a moment, there seemed to be something that flashed across Heizo's face- but it had happened far too quickly to determine what. In the blink of an eye, just as quickly as it had happened, the man had already composed himself again. "I understand that you were the one to find the body, Yamato-san."

"That's correct. When I was on the way back to headquarters after finishing up another case, I found the young man's body lying in alleyway." Kansuke told him, recalling that day, just as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. That intense feeling of anger seeing someone so young having been shot to death was something that hadn't quite left him, even though he now knew the so-called corpse was now very much alive again. "He had no identification on him at the time, and again, the corpse vanished before we could identify who he might have been."

"But I'm guessing that it's identity must have something to do with why you've come all the way out here, Hattori-san." Kansuke said slowly, for once almost wishing that Koumei were here at the moment- he was better at dealing with this sort of thing than he was. There was a part of him that just wanted to try and make the old man spit it out already, but somehow he felt that wouldn't go over very well. "Otherwise I can't think of any reason why such a high ranking police official would come out all this way to ask about the matter himself. The corpse looked pretty young, but perhaps he was some kind of criminal or something?"

Oh, that got a reaction. It was the implications of his last question that had done it, causing Heizo's gaze to sharpen. Judging from that, the kid probably wasn't any kind of crook- but was definitely someone close enough to him that implying that he was involved with such things angered him enough to make him lose his composure, however briefly. A relative of some kind, then? Perhaps the son of a close friend?

Come to think of it, he did recall something about Hattori Heizo having a son of his own. It felt as if he had cause to hear of him somewhere before, outside of the context of his father, but for the life of him, Kansuke couldn't quite recall from _where_. He must have not thought it was very important at the time, whatever it was, if it had slipped his mind in this way.

Still, it was that reaction, more than anything else, that helped tell him that the reason he was looking into the matter was probably personal. And if someone as high up in rank was really working with the same people behind the mass kidnappings, then that would be a huge scandal- but something told Kansuke that wasn't the case here. Intuition, one could say.

"That's hardly the case." Heizo told him flatly, having to quickly school his expression back into one of neutrality. No father enjoyed his son being painted as a criminal, even not as a simple implication, and he less than most. If there was one thing that he knew about Heiji, it was that on top of being reckless, impulsive, and sometimes far too self-assured for his own good, it was that he had a strong sense of justice. He might injure someone in a fit of rage, given his hot temper- but even then, he wasn't the sort of person to do anything like that without what he thought was a good reason.

"Then what _is_ the reason?" Kansuke asked, narrowing his good eye. "You know, I thought i briefly saw the person who might have been responsible for taking the corpse away, back then. Funny thing is though, there was no sign of him carrying anything." Were it not for his cane, he would have been able to chase after him even faster- the kid was quick on his feet, if nothing else. Maybe he had gotten used to running away.

Running from _what_ , really, was the main question.

"Yes, I read the report." Heizo said simply. As he thought, there did seem to be something that this man knew about the case, something further. Still, the real question that remained was if he could trust him or not. "And what of you, Yamato-san? You seem to have more than a passing interest in this case yourself. I suspect it's not just because a crime went unsolved in front of you."

"I don't enjoy seeing murders go unsolved." Kansuke told him rather firmly, slowly rising to his feet. "And I'm getting a bit tired of this song and dance number as well. What is it that you know about our missing corpse, that's brought you all the way out here, Hattori-san? I would be real interested in finding out just what that is."

"So it would seem." Heizo observed, one eye opening up, peering up towards the younger man. Perhaps it was some kind of ironic fate that Heiji's then-corpse had been found by this man- it would appear that the two of them seemed to have a few things in common. "Why don't you tell me what you know first, Yamato-san, and then I'll see if I can't share my own information with you."

Giving the older man a long stare, Kansuke eventually relented, once more taking a seat. "That works. I'll be honest with you, Hattori-san, there's a lot about this situation I don't know. All that I do know is that not long after the corpse up and disappeared on us, one of my coworkers," well, Yui hadn't been one of his coworkers back then, but that wasn't quite an important detail, "...took in a rather elusive freeloader whose description matched that of the missing corpse quite a bit."

"A coworker?" Heizo asked, arching a brow. "Is there any chance I might get the name of said coworker?"

"That depends on what it is that you have to tell me, Hattori-san." Kansuke noted, leaning back in his chair, carefully watching him. He didn't think his intuition was wrong in this case, but the last thing he wanted to do was put Yui in danger- or more danger than she had already likely involved herself in. Even if she said that all she had done was give this freeloader of hers a roof over his head and meals to eat, as well as the occasional bits of police information, he got the feeling that just from being involved with him, she had put herself in the line of fire.

Well, she _was_ a police officer at the end of the day, no different from him. Their entire line of work was standing in the line of fire, day in, and day out. They just usually had a better picture of what it was that they were fighting against than this.

Honestly though... to think that crybaby who couldn't stand ghosts and scary stories had come this far. When had something like that happened? It didn't feel like he had spent that much time in a coma, but so many things had seemed to change anyways. The march of time really did have no mercy.

"Hm." With a slight frown, Heizo merely assessed the young man before him. It was a fair enough statement- perhaps he was closer to this coworker of his than he was willing to let on. If that was the case, he probably had some idea of the trouble that his son was involved in- if not a very concrete idea. "That's fair enough."

Reaching into the inner chest pocket of his suit, Heizo plucked a photograph that he had stored there. It was the same one that he had shown to Kimie, to confirm that the one that she had met back then was really his son. It was perhaps a good thing that there was no shortage of pictures of his son in their house, courtesy of his wife, who bemoaned whenever she missed a chance to record him doing something, even now.

"The corpse that you found... did it bear any resemblance to this young man?" Heizo asked, sliding the photograph across the desk, watching as Kansuke took it, almost instantly reacting to it. A look of recognition passed through his one good eye- and now Heizo knew for certain that he had once again picked up on the trail of his wayward son.

Even knowing what he knew now, the confirmation that Heiji had turned up dead somewhere was enough to twist even _his_ guts into a knot. That something like that had happened, the kind of thing he had always feared one day might happen from his very first foray into detective work, to his reckless fool of a son when he was so far out of his reach... why was it that Heiji hadn't tried to reach out to him after something like this happened? Even if he had realized what it was that Shizuka had done, he didn't think it would be enough to drive such a powerful wedge between them.

It had to be something else- and Heizo didn't enjoy what that something else seemed to imply.

"That it did." Kansuke noted, briefly arching a brow, before sliding the photograph back towards Heizo. "So? You going to tell me who this person is? And furthermore, what your relation to him is?" Given the nature of the photograph, there was no doubt that he had one- it seemed more like the kind of thing one would find in a family album rather than something that would be passed around to the police.

There was another long moment of pause then, before Heizo slowly took the photograph back, tucking it back away. If there was a chance that this young man could lead him to his wayward son, then Heizo wasn't about to pass it up. Whatever kind of dangerous thing his hotheaded son was involved in, there was no way he was going to sit back and allow him to fight against it on his own.

Perhaps not entirely on his own, from the sound of it. There was a cold comfort to that- and it was information he was certain Shizuka would be relieved to hear.

"His name is Hattori Heiji. He's my son."  
_________________________________________________________________________

They must have been in the right place, if there were Russians milling about the building they had found their way to. It was only good luck that they had noticed the trio of men before trying to enter the building themselves. Their inquires had lead them to a building on the outskirts of town- and it would appear that parking the motorcycle a bit away from their destination was a good choice.

"What should we do, Hattori?" Conan whispered, peering out from behind the tree he had hidden himself behind. "I don't think they'll really like the two of us snooping around. At best, they'll just think we're getting in the way, and at the worst..." Trailing off a little, his brows furrowed together as he found his mind quickly going over the worst case scenarios. Granted, on the surface, they probably just appeared to be a normal high school and grade school student respectively, but one never could be too careful.

Especially when one was trying to draw as little attention to oneself as possible.

"We might just have ta wait fer them ta leave." Heiji remarked, peering out from behind his own tree, narrowing his eyes. "I don't think they would really be hot on the idea of us goin' up ta them and chattin' them up about the case. I've got a fake ID that links me ta the FBI from her boss, but Jodie-han told me that they don't seem real hot in cooperating with them, so I'm not sure how much good that would do me."

"No idea how I would explain ya either." Heiji observed, raising his brows. "We wouldn't want 'em ta catch us spyin' on them either. Though ta be frank, I kind of wish we could link heads with 'em fer a second. They might have information that we don't have access ta, like the circumstances surroundin' that Saint girl's kidnappin'. Could be useful."

"I could bug them, but just getting the chance to do that could be risky." Conan observed with a tight frown. "I don't know what would happen if they noticed it. Or even worse, if they noticed me _doing_ it in the first place. I don't think being a kid would get me out of that situation, and my face his been in the papers before thanks to those Kid heists. I wouldn't want them to draw the wrong conclusion that uncle is somehow involved in this matter."

"That's true." Heiji mused, folding his arms in front of his chest, leaning back against the tree. He of course, couldn't show his face either- if they learned that Absinthe's main target was him, there was a chance that they might try to capture him in an attempt to exchange him for Maria Alkaev's freedom. He doubted such a thing would work out all that well for them- but it was within the realm of possibility. That Saint girl was awfully important to her country, after all, akin to a living national treasure.

It was almost dehumanizing, in a way. They probably didn't view her as much more than a tool- he could only hope that there were people closer to her that thought otherwise. In a way, he felt he could kind of sympathize.

"Hopefully there's just the three of them, but there's a chance that they might have someone else keepin' watch fer 'me somewhere. Seriously, what bad timin'." Letting out a long sigh, Heiji rubbed the back of his head, sparing another glance back behind them. The three men appeared to be rather deep in discussion at the moment, not paying too much attention to what was around them. If they had already been inside the building, there was a good chance that it was empty.

Still worth checking out, though.

"It could be worse." Conan observed, glancing over towards him. "They could have started asking questions _after_ us. They might have learned about us that way then."

"That's true." Nodding his head, Heiji frowned. "I guess there's nothin' that we can do but wait, Kudo. We've finally gotten this close ta another lead, there's no way I'm walkin' away from here without gettin' anythin' from it."

"There's a chance that they might have bugged the place. I didn't bring anything with me that might be able to detect them." Conan told him, glancing over towards him. "Either way, we should be careful. I'd rather not deal with any more trouble beyond what I've already managed to find for myself, and I'm sure you feel the same way."

"Got that right." Heiji muttered, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. The last thing he needed, on top of everything else, was to have the _Russians_ on his ass too. "At the very least, she's probably still alive, that Saint girl. There's no way that Absinthe is goin' ta wanna do away with someone with an ability that useful so easily."

There was an unspoken undercurrent to his words- one that Conan picked up on right away. Blame, and a sense of responsibility, not just for the so-called Saint of Russia, but also for all of those currently in Absinthe's custody. Even though he wanted to try and reassure him that it wasn't his fault, he knew better than anyone how hollow those words would ring. There too, was also an earnest wish that none of them had to endure half of what he did- but given that a corpse had turned up, prospects didn't look good.

"You're right." Conan said slowly. "It's what she might be used _for_ that has me the most worried." If it weren't something he was certain Heiji was already thinking, he wouldn't have said it- he didn't want to add to the blame he was already heaping onto himself. "With her abilities, it's possible to keep people from dying."

"Yeah." Narrowing his eyes sharply at that rather grim thought, Heiji's brows knitted together. Faintly, he felt the vague sensation of pressure around his neck again, but steadied himself, placing a hand over his heart, taking in and letting out long breaths. He couldn't afford to have a meltdown, not right here, not right now. It was okay- it wasn't that intense this time. "The faster we can track down her lab, the better."

Even though he already knew it all too well himself, the corpse that had turned up was proof to the world just how far she was willing to go to get what she wanted. And if nobody stopped her, they would only continue to mount.  
_________________________________________________________________

"Is your daughter still in Nagano, Toyama-san?"

Gaze shifting towards the brightly smiling woman who had approached him, setting down the report she was carrying on his desk, Toyama Ginshiro gave her a firm nod of his head. It was hardly a secret that she had headed off there, at least not to his fellow officers. He had been in the station when he had taken her call. "She's still there. Kurosawa-han. Probably won't come back for a little while longer, I imagine."

"I would have thought she would have used that ability of hers to pop back at home for the night." Blinking slightly, Ayame tilted her head with a small frown. "It sounds handy like that."

"Apparently she found someone to spend the night with there." Ginshiro told her, shaking his head. Of course, his daughter hadn't told him much more than that, but when it came to the matter of Heiji, she could be awfully distracted sometimes. Speaking of the missing high school detective, he got the distinct feeling that Heizo now knew something about his son that he wasn't sharing with anyone else yet- something that had prompted his trip away from his own territory.

"I never pictured her to be the type to be interested in Kaito Kid." Ayame observed. "Given that she's your daughter, after all."

"Ah, well..." Flashing his subordinate a rather placid smile, Ginshiro slowly nodded his head. It was probably for the best that people thought that was the reason his daughter had suddenly gone off to Nagano. The fact that she was there was common knowledge around the station- if not the reason. Given the way that Heizo's voice had ever so subtly shifted when he had mentioned this fact to him, he guessed that there might be something going on there. "She did say that she always wanted to see it at least once. It's probably for the best. Might get her mind off of Heizo's son for a little while."

"Ah, that's true." Slowly nodding her head, Ayame brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't blame her for being worried. It's been around six months since we've seen Heiji-kun, hasn't it? I'm worried as well. He always did seem to be the type to get himself into trouble."

"I can't deny that." Ginshiro said simply, shaking his head. "In that way, he's really no different from his father, however much Heizo might deny it these days. Well, he's also good at getting himself out of trouble, so I'm sure he'll eventually return home, safe and sound."

"I suppose that's true." Her smile not wavering from her face, Ayame paused for a moment as she heard a knock on the door, glancing towards it as it opened up, allowing Otaki Gorou inside. Upon spotting her, he gave her a nod, clearing his throat. "Ah, do you need me for something, Otaki-san?"

"There's someone who wants to speak with you, Kurosawa-han." Otaki told her, glancing back behind him. "Says his name is Amuro Tooru, and that he's an acquaintance of yours."

"Amuro Tooru?" Blinking for a moment, a knowing look crossed her eyes, as Ayame slowly nodded her head. It wasn't a name that she had cause to know him well by- when she had met him in the past, he had been going by his codename at the time. She had heard that he was poking his nose around in Absinthe's business, so really, it was only a matter of time before he came by to ask her some questions. "Yes, I know him. Well then, excuse me, Toyama-san, Otaki-san. I should probably see what it is that he wants."

If he thought he was actually going to get anything out of her though, Bourbon must have been dreaming. She didn't care how great of a detective he supposedly was- if there was one thing that she knew, it was how to keep her mouth shut, and to play along with whatever situation was thrown at her.

In her line of work, they were the most vital of skills.  
____________________________________________________________________

"So tell me about this Hattori-kun, Toyama-san."

"I'm not quite sure what more there is ta tell, other than what I've said already, Hakuba-san." With a slight frown on her face, Kazuha directed her attention towards the young man standing by her side, finding herself wondering yet again why he had decided to join her. Naturally, she had already been introduced to him by Aoko- one Hakuba Saguru, who was apparently _also_ a high school detective. Apparently there were _more_ idiots like Heiji out there than she could have ever expected. She'd never heard of him before this, and from what little time she had spent around him, she couldn't help but marvel that in spite of having that same obsession with solving mysteries, the two of them really couldn't be more different.

She was also almost _entirely_ certain that this was exactly the sort of guy that Heiji wouldn't be able to stand. And quite frankly? She wasn't quite sure how she felt about the guy either. It felt as if there was something that he wasn't telling her- she was no detective herself, but she could pick up on that much, at the very least. The fact that he seemed to be rather close to that Kaito person, who had asked her some questions about Heiji she had found to be downright _rude_ \- really didn't play in his favor.

"Shouldn't ya be at the site of the Kid heist anyways? That's yer thing, accordin' ta Aoko-han." Kazuha observed. "I'm perfectly capable of askin' around about Heiji just fine myself, an' it's not like ya've been helpin' anyways."

"I'm confident that Inspector Nakamori can handle the pre-heist setup without me." Hakuba told her simply, his lips twisting into an almost business-like smile. "And of course, I'll be going there this evening myself, to help and try and catch him. But there's certainly no way I can sit back and do nothing when I hear that someone else in my profession has gone missing, and for such a long time on top of that. I was quite surprised when I heard of the matter from Kuroba-kun."

"All ya've been doin' since we got here is hang around in the background, watchin' people." Kazuha said dryly, shooting him a rather sour look. "So yer basically sittin' around an' doin' nothin' anyways. I appreciate that ya seem ta want ta help, but I get the feelin' that's not all ya want from me."

"You're rather sharp yourself, aren't you, Toyama-san?" The smile on his face was the kind that Kazuha really didn't care for- that kind of flattering edge to it that sometimes seemed so fake. Sometimes she'd fall for it, she wasn't going to deny that much- but not ones so obvious as _this_. "I can't help but deny that the circumstances under which he met Nakamori-san are a bit... strange, grateful though we are for his assistance."

"Strange?" Kazuha asked, arching a brow, folding her arms in front of her chest. "All he did was keep some creep off her back, right? What's strange about that?"

"There's... more to that story, actually." Hakuba told her after a moment, carefully considering his words. Perhaps if he elaborated a bit, he could glean some more information from Kazuha. Although she seemed to truly have no idea about whatever it was her childhood friend was mixed up in, it was still possible that unbeknownst to her, she might very well hold a few nuggets of information. "I'm certain that you've heard about the recent rash of kidnappings, correct?"

"Who hasn't?" Kazuha asked, her lips twisting into a frown. She couldn't help but recall the face of the woman that she had met on the bridge- and the worried expression that had seemed to set itself deeply into her face. With the news of that one person turning up dead... she could only hope that she was doing alright. "Everyone knows about it."

"We have reason to believe that Nakamori-san was nearly abducted by those very same people. It was Hattori-kun who thwarted that attempt." As he watched the look of visible shock cross her face, he knew that this was the first time she had heard this. "We're very grateful to him for doing so, of course, as I have already stated, but the question still remains as to how exactly he knew that such a thing was going to happen, and why he just happened to be there at the time to prevent it."

"Yer not tryin' ta say that Heiji had some relation ta that matter, are ya?" Once her moment of shock passed, Kazuha's eyes sharply narrowed- she had been wondering why Aoko was being escorted around the city by a police officer, but if that was the case, then it made perfect sense. "He's not that kind of person!"

"That's not what I'm saying at all, Toyama-san. As a fellow high school detective, I'm certain that he's not." Hakuba said simply, shaking his head. "Naturally since it was one of my classmates who was nearly abducted, I have an interest in this case myself, and want to find out as much as I possibly can about it. When I realized that Hattori-kun had been missing for six months prior to this, I couldn't help but come to the conclusion that perhaps his disappearance does have some kind of overall connection to this matter."

"Even if he does, I wouldn't be searchin' fer him like this if I knew what that idiot was up ta." Kazuha told him frankly, trying to fight back the rising tension that she felt. If Heiji was really mixed up in something like that, wasn't he doing something incredibly dangerous right now? The only comfort was the fact that he had seemed to be in both good spirits and good health alike the last time she had seen him- even if that had only been a brief picture mail received from one of her classmates.

"That's certainly true." Hakuba admitted. "I was just hoping that perhaps you could elaborate on the circumstances around the time he disappeared a little bit more. Do you remember if anything out of the ordinary happened on the day of, or perhaps even the day before?"

"No." Kazuha said, shaking her head. "Heiji was the same as he always was. Nothin' really unusual happened. The last time anyone saw him was after he finished wrappin' up a murder case, an' his father's investigation already ruled out the idea that it had anythin' ta do with it."

"I see." He would look into the matter of the aforementioned case later, just to be sure, but for the moment, it appeared that perhaps he was pursuing the wrong avenue. Since the one they were dealing with had an obvious interest in the Powered- or at the very least, those who could possibly develop abilities, there was one line of questioning that he had wanted to try. "I hear from Nakamori-san that you have an ability yourself, Toyama-san. Is there a chance that Hattori-kun might also...?"

Seeing where he was going with this, Kazuha merely shook her head once more. "He doesn't. He tested negative back then, so it's not like he'd be on that list in the first place himself. He was real beat up about it too at the time."

"I see." Hakuba said, his brows furrowing in thought. He thought for sure that perhaps Heiji might have been on the list- but it would appear that he was wrong. He'd never heard of anyone getting a false negative before. Given the test itself, he doubted such a thing was possible.

While there had been some controversy surrounding it at the time- namely the fact that some parents felt uncomfortable having their children treated as something akin to a science experiment, an exaggeration to be sure, nobody could deny that the results had been rather accurate. There had been a number of children who had tested positive who eventually developed powers of their own over the years- and no one who tested negative did as such.

The exact methods used to run the test had been lost to the annals of time- as the one who had designed it in the first place had died in a rather tragic accident. He'd still be rather young at the time himself, of course, but given her involvement with the research into the Powered children phenomenon, he did recall that there was an investigation into her death. The fact that she hailed from the same country as his mother was what had made her stick out in his mind during the time.

"Is that all?" Kazuha asked. "I get that yer tryin' ta help, an' I do thank ya fer tellin' me the truth about what happened, but the more time I spend talkin' ta ya, the higher the odds get that someone who has seen Heiji will just slip right past me."

"Ah, yes, you're quite correct." Nodding his head, Hakuba gave her another smile. "That's all for now. If I think of something else, I'll ask you then, Toyama-san. I do wish you luck in your endeavors, but perhaps you should consider being a bit careful, in light of the circumstances he might be involved in."

"It's fine, it's fine." Flashing him a smile of her own, Kazuha almost laughed. "I'm not an easy gal ta catch."


	20. Under the Moon's Light

"Still, I _really_ don't get the appeal of that guy." With a slight frown, Heiji leaned forward on the motorbike a little, tilting his head as he cast his gaze towards the throng of people just up ahead, so plentiful in number that they were currently blocking traffic. If he had known it was going to be like this, he would have taken a different street- even on a motorcycle, he wouldn't be able to get around them that easily. "Though ta be fair, I hadn't even heard of the guy until just a little while ago."

"Rather, I'm surprised you could have missed the news about him." Conan couldn't help but observe, quirking a brow up towards his fellow high school detective. "Every time he pulls a heist, it always turns into a big spectacle like this. The only time it hasn't is when the location is somewhere remote, but even then, there's always a swarm of reporters waiting just outside."

"I've been _kind of busy_ , in case ya haven't noticed." Heiji noted, sparing a glance back towards him. "Are ya sure ya don't want me ta drop ya off right here, Kudo? Ya are the _Kid Killer_ , or whatever, right?"

" _Idiot_. In the first place I only go to Kid heists when I'm invited. They're not something I really go to because I want to." Conan noted, heaving a long sigh. "Besides, if Ran learns that I was here, she might start to doubt the story that I'm spending some time with my mother. I can't have that."

"Well, suit yerself." Heiji said with a slight shrug of his shoulders. "But I'm amazed they've already started ta gather like this. The sun hasn't even set yet." He noted, glancing up towards it, squinting to avoid staring straight at it. "Is it really that big of a deal?"

"He's popular." Conan noted, shrugging his shoulders. "He has a lot of fans. I can't really understand it myself, even if I _do_ think the guy is something of an interesting challenge. Ah, I think you can go now, though, Hattori."

"Ah, you're right." Starting the motorcycle back up, Heiji quickly took advantage of a break in the crowd, quickly zipping through it before the street could be blocked again. The cars waiting behind him weren't that lucky, and he couldn't help but grin somewhat impishly as he heard them honking their horns in annoyance behind him. Their loss, really. "Well, at the very least, today was more productive than yesterday. Are ya sure it was fer the best ta just let those Russians go though? Ya mentioned somethin' about wantin' ta plant some kind of transceiver on them or somethin', didn't ya?"

"Too dangerous." Conan said, shaking his head. "I considered it, but I couldn't think of a safe way to plant one, or even _where_ to put it that I would be able to make out anything they were saying. In the first place, I don't even speak that much Russian."

"I do, though, ya know." Heiji observed, sparing a quick glance back at him, unable to help but grin, especially as he took in the surprised look on the shrunken detective's face. "I guess that's one thing I'm better than ya at, huh, Kudo? Nice ta know."

"Why do you even know how to speak Russian in the first place, Hattori?" Conan couldn't help but observe. "It would have been nicer if you had mentioned that earlier."

"I didn't know that ya couldn't!" Heiji remarked. "One of my neighbors growin' up was half-Russian, so I learned it from them. I always liked that sort of thing, since I was pretty good at it. Well, as fer _readin_ ' it... that's a bit of a different story."

"Well, that's fair." Conan noted, heaving a slight sigh. "But at the very least, if they're here, we know we're on the right track. What's more, that thing that you found..." Reaching into his pocket, Conan carefully made sure to not actually touch the item, keeping it wrapped in the handkerchief that it had been tucked away in. They probably wouldn't be able to get any fingerprints from something this small, and he doubted that Absinthe would have touched it in the first place, but there was no mistaking that the small, silver cross charm that they had found in that abandoned building belonged to the missing Saint of Russia.

"Yeah. There's no doubt, it probably belongs ta that Saint Neechan." Heiji observed, stopping his motorcycle at the red light, glancing back towards Conan. "She was wearin' an accessory like that in several of her photos. It either broke off by accident, or she left it there on purpose. Either way, even someone like Absinthe probably wouldn't notice somethin' that small goin' missin' from a bracelet that already had plenty of charms on it."

"There's no mistake that she was there." Conan observed, tucking it back away. "The only real question is why. For what reason did Absinthe bring her there, and for what reason did she own that building in the first place?"

"It's possible that she might have wanted to make another lab in that place, but decided against it, fer some reason. Maybe the location wasn't right." Heiji noted. "But she probably kept hold of it in case she needed it fer somethin'. Maybe she was meetin' someone there? Judgin' from the first time I met her, she does seem ta like it, meetin' people in supposedly abandoned buildings."

"That would leave the question of who she was meeting." Conan noted. "If she was meeting that Ginger woman, it would have probably made more sense to meet up in Osaka, since that's where she apparently works out of. Coming out all the way to Nagano doesn't seem like it would make any sense. It's also possible that she was holding Alkaev-san there, but there's no traces of anything like that."

"Another Organization member, maybe?" Heiji pondered, frowning a little. "Well, given the fact that the Organization itself seems to be investigatin' her activities, that might not be the case. It might be that she has ties ta some other group, besides the Organization. If she really _does_ have some kind of specific goal that she wants ta accomplish, then it's possible that's she's usin' them just as much as they're usin' her, ta make her ends meet."

"A goal that she obviously feels that she can't accomplish without you." Conan noted, before glancing up. "Ah, Hattori, you can go now."

"Ah, sorry!" Startling at his words, he let out a slightly awkward laugh, driving forward again. It was easy to get distracted when discussing things like this. "But yer right. Whatever her goal is, my ability is definitely involved. Given the fact that she hasn't used that Saint Neechan's ability ta heal her own scar yet, it's probably not the most obvious answer, that she wants ta be immortal herself. It's probably somethin' else."

"Not only _your_ ability at that." Conan noted. "It's possible that she's been kidnapping those who might one day develop abilities because she's seeking something in particular. Something that she can't find in those who already have such abilities."

"But how can she be sure that this ability she's lookin' fer would even crop up somewhere?" Heiji noted with a slight frown. "It's not like anyone ever managed ta figure out the _cause_ of the phenomena, other than that it was related ta the Night of Fallin' Stars." There was a slight pause then, as he backed up on his own words. "Though callin' 'em fallin' stars is a misnomer in the first place, since those weird lights apparently weren't caused by meteoroids, like the usual type are."

"Well, neither of us had even been born back then, though that goes without saying." Conan noted. "There's no answers as to why it was only _our_ generation that was affected by those lights, either. There's a whole lot of things about the existence of people like us that we just _don't_ have any answers for."

They might know the science behind _why_ a good number of abilities worked the way that they did, but what they didn't know is _how_ they had surfaced in the first place. The only thing that they had ever been able to establish was the likely connection with the Night of the Falling Stars- and even that they didn't fully understand.

"The one who might have been the closest ta the truth was the one who developed that test in the first place, but considerin' that she died, and took her research with her, I guess it's impossible ta ask her any questions now." Heiji noted, shrugging his shoulders, as he pulled into the hotel's parking lot. He did remember hearing somewhere that she had a daughter- or was it two?- but the odds they knew anything about their mother's research was low- provided they could even be found.

Still, speaking of that woman though, there was always something that kind of bothered him about her in the back of his head. He just couldn't put his finger quite on what it was, but there was something about that _name_...

"It's possible that Absinthe might know something about it." Conan mused, folding his arms in front of his chest, not quite taking off his helmet just yet. "Something that the rest of us don't know. If that's the case, she might have some reason to believe that she can find what she needs if she searches around for it in this way."

"The question is, what would that be?" Heiji asked, taking off his helmet, just as quickly pulling his hood back up as he did so. Casting a glance towards the sun, which had just started to sink beneath the clouds, his eyes narrowed slightly- they had gotten back just in time. "It feels like the deeper we get into this, the more an' more confusin' things get. We're obviously missin' somethin' important here."

"Yeah." Conan agreed, taking off his helmet, carefully holding it in his hands. "But whatever that thing is, we'll definitely find it."

"Well, that's the spirit." Heiji told him, lips twisting into a quick grin. "Now, come on, come on. Let's get inside already. The sun's goin' ta set soon, an' I'm startin' ta get a bit hungry."

"Do you not like going out at night or something, Hattori?" Conan couldn't help but observe, quirking a brow. He had gone out early in the morning to clear his thoughts after that nightmare, but sometimes he couldn't help but get the feeling he was trying to avoid being out after dark. "Don't tell me you're afraid of the dark?"

" _Idiot_ , of course I'm not." Grumbling to himself, Heiji shot him something of a glower. "I just feel more at ease when I can see my surroundings clearly, that's all."

"Well, if you say so." With a slight shrug of his shoulders, Conan followed him into the hotel, lingering only for a moment just outside the doors, his own gaze turning skywards. Speaking of people who were searching for something, he couldn't help but momentarily wonder if that guy would find what he was obviously searching for tonight himself. In just about three hours from now, that white clad thief would probably be soaring through the Nagano skies, once more eluding capture.

Not that it had anything to do with him this time. He was far too busy right now to be worrying about some kind of Magician in the Moonlight.  
___________________________________________________________________

"Ladies and Gentlemen!"

Even with other worries plaguing his mind, there was one thing that Kuroba Kaito- no, _Kaitou Kid_ , could not do- and that was let down his loyal base of fans. His thoughts might be currently troubled by all sorts of things, but he wouldn't let any of that show on his face tonight. His poker face wasn't something so easily broken, and tonight would be no exception.

Current circumstances had been factored into tonight's heist plans, though- there would be no sleeping gas, or gas of any kind, really. Blackouts were off limits, and no blinding lights would be used. Anything that someone who wanted to abduct Aoko could use to their advantage were _not_ in his bag of tricks tonight, and the first thing that he had done before beginning the heist was confirm her location, and the location of her personal police guard, that Uehara Yui woman. Secure in the knowledge of where they were, in a place that was out of any potential danger, only then, did he begin his heist.

Just barely one minute later than he had planned. But the only one who would notice something that minor was probably Hakuba. And given the current circumstances, the high school detective would probably put his suspicions about Kuroba Kaito and Kaitou Kid being the same person to the side for the time being- it wasn't nearly as important as capturing the person responsible for Aoko's near kidnapping.

Well, that said, he didn't expect him to go easy on him tonight just because of that. He wasn't that type of person, after all.

Not that he intended to go easy on Hakuba either- or the Inspector, for that matter. Even if hearing the sound of Aoko cheering for his father over him did wound him a little more than he would like to admit, he never let the amused smile on his face falter. It wasn't as if he expected anything else from her anyways- he had long since known what her opinion on Kaitou Kid was.

Still, tonight too, he would make off with the target without fail. The Phoenix's Heart would be his- and perhaps tonight would be the final time, if he had any luck on his side. If only he could destroy Pandora, then all of this would be over- although there was a part of him that had to admit, he would be a bit sad to hang up the Kid mantle once and for all.

Well, that was _if_ he was lucky. Deep down, he already had a feeling that this too, was going to be yet another miss, in spite of the promising name of the big jewel in question. With a smoke bomb that he had prepared in advance, one that would only produce enough smoke to cover his escape, and not nearly enough to provide cover for anyone who wanted to use his heist to do anything nefarious, he couldn't help but let out a laugh at the sound of the Inspector's infuriated cry as she once more slipped away from him.

That really never got old.

With the gleaming red ruby in his hand, flashy white suit exchanged for something far more subtle, he could already make out the sound of the Inspector and his men heading for the rooftop, where he already had a dummy rigged and ready to go. That would probably buy him a good ten minutes or so- from the Inspector, at the very least. The one he really needed to watch out for today, was of course, Hakuba.

At any rate, at the very least, it would seem as if those guys hadn't shown up tonight after all- maybe this really wasn't what he was looking for after all. Still, he would keep his guard up until the end of the end, until he had sent the jewel back to the police, at the very least. Slipping out into the crowd, the Phoenix's Heart concealed within the inner pocket of his jacket, Kaito paused for a moment, casting a glance back towards the manor that he had just left. As he watched someone dash outside, informing the crowd joyfully of his victory, he couldn't help but smirk, making out the dummy that he had set up soar off into the Nagano skies.

It was in that moment that he felt it- a sensation that made him stiffen. Pivoting on his heel, his eyes scanned the crowd around him, his heart hammering inside of his chest. Just now, there had been someone there- someone who had entered his personal space, masking the contact as merely bumping into him, and then had vanished, almost like a phantom. Reaching up to where he had hidden the jewel, he only allowed the faintest of relieved breaths to escape him, as he realized it was very much still there.

But it wasn't that they had taken anything from him- rather, they had given him something extra. Slipping his way through the crowd, he found a secluded location, away from prying eyes, to find out what it was that they had so graciously given him. Slowly pulling out the folded up piece of paper that they had slipped inside of his pocket, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the words, before a rather fierce grin crossed his lips.

So the one who had the nerve to intrude on his personal space had left him a challenge. Given the timing of it, it was hard to believe that it was wholly a coincidence- but if this was a way that he could uncover some answers, then even if there was a chance that it was a trap, he wasn't about to pass it up.

_If you really want to put on a show, come and try to capture the Green Fairy._

With slightly arched brows, Kaito plucked the Phoenix's Heart from where he had hidden it, letting out a small laugh as he realized the reason why they had been able to locate him so easily. Carefully removing the small transmitter, one that had been painted the same color as the jewel itself, one that he had failed to notice when he had first taken it, he dropped it to the ground, crushing it underneath his foot. After triple checking himself for any further such devices, and confirming that he was free of them, only then did he come to the conclusion that whoever he was dealing with here wasn't so much interested in his identity, as they were in his skills.

Whoever his challenger was, they had been able to access the scene without raising any suspicion, all in order to plant the tiny transmitter on the ruby. Someone with the police, then? Or perhaps someone who had helped fit the jewel's display case with the security measures that had been child's play for him to disable. Tucking the jewel back away, he quickly put some distance in between the destroyed transmitter and himself, making sure to take paths that would allow him to lose anyone who wanted to follow him any further.

"The Green Fairy, huh. How interesting."  
________________________________________________________________________

"So that's what a Kid heist is like, huh?"

"Apparently so." Glancing over towards the girl who was very quickly becoming a new friend, Aoko spared her a quick smile. "To be honest with you, Kazuha-chan, this is the first Kid heist Aoko has ever been to herself."

"Eh? Is that so?" Blinking rapidly, Kazuha couldn't help but deny that she was rather surprised by this information. "I would have thought fer sure that ya would have been ta one or two before, given yer father's job."

"No." Shaking her head, Aoko clasped her hands behind her back. "This is Aoko's first. Well, she has gone to see her father sometimes before the start of heists, but she's usually never around when the actual thing happens. Dad really doesn't want her to get in the way. Aoko thinks he's afraid of her getting hurt, or something like that. Although given recent events, she thinks he thought it would be safer for her to be here this time around. There was that one time on the train, but Aoko ended up falling asleep during it, and ended up missing everything."

"Ah, but there was that one time with the clock tower... but that was a bit different form his usual heists, so this is kind of Aoko's first time at one like this." She added, almost as an afterthought.

"I see." With a quick nod of her head, Kazuha paused to brush back some of her hair- the moment that it had been announced that Kid had stolen his target, everything had gotten pretty chaotic for awhile. Reporters had pressed to get in, and to ensure that nobody tried to slip in and try anything with Aoko during that time period, the two of them had been isolated in a corner of the room, alongside Yui and the other police officers that had been charged to watch Aoko for the night. "It's a bit exciting, I have to say."

The crush of people had finally died down somewhat, allowing Yui to part from their side for a moment, to take a phone call. There was still a pair of officers lingering by their side, and just out of the corner of her eye, Aoko could make out where Hakuba was, busying himself by looking over the pedestal where the Phoenix's Heart had been placed.

"Well, Aoko supposes she can't deny that much." Aoko admitted after a moment, giving her something of a small smile. "Still, she's surprised that this is your first time too, Kazuha-chan. Didn't you say your childhood friend is a high school detective? You know, like Hakuba-kun."

"He is." With a quick nod of her head, Kazuha couldn't help but let out a small laugh nevertheless. "But he's _nothin_ ' like Hakuba-kun. I think he would probably be kind of annoyed if ya compared the two of them." She observed after a moment, just trying to _imagine_ the pair of them together- it was hard to picture them getting along. "Fer one thing, he's never been much interested in thieves. He cares more about things like kidnappin' an' murder."

"An' fer another thing, by the time that Kid got really popular again, Heiji had already vanished." She told her, shaking her head. "I doubt he would ever show up at a place like this, even if he _was_ interested in this sort of thing, if he's tryin' ta avoid attractin' attention."

"Ah, that's true." Nodding her head, Aoko frowned a little. "There's _always_ a bunch of reporters around during Kid heists, after all. Too many of them, if you ask Aoko. Honestly, so much attention for one lousy sneak thief!" Heaving a long sigh, she planted her hands on her hips, casting her gaze in the direction of her father. "But just you watch, Kazuha-chan! One of these days, Aoko's father will catch him for sure!"

"And failing that, Aoko will just have to catch him herself! A daughter's success is also her father's success!" With a resolute expression, Aoko nodded her head, before looking her way again. "Still, it would be nice if Aoko could awaken to her ability, just like you did, Kazuha-chan. Then she could really give that sneak thief quite the shock! If she could just teleport in right next to him, then..."

"Well, my power's not quite as useful as that." Kazuha told her, holding up her hands. "Fer one thing, if I've never been ta a place before, I have ta have a photo of it fer reference, or I can't teleport there. So even if I caught him, it's not like I could teleport him inside of a jail cell, or somethin' like that. Even if I could, there's a chance he could just grab back onto me when I tried ta teleport out, an' I'd end up takin' him with me." She said. "It's not like I can just teleport next ta people just by thinkin' about them either, or anythin' like that. If I could do somethin' like that, I would have found Heiji a long time ago."

"Ah, that's true..." Trailing off a little, wondering if perhaps she had said the wrong thing, Aoko quickly tried to think of something other to say. "Do you want to stay with Aoko again tonight? You're going to look again for your childhood friend again tomorrow, right? We're not going back to Tokyo until tomorrow ourselves."

"Then, I'll take ya up on that offer, Aoko-chan." Kazuha told her, giving her a quick smile. "But keep an eye out fer Heiji in Tokyo when ya get back though, won't ya? Ah, but that's right, speakin' of Tokyo, I'll have ta tell Ran-chan's father that people have seen him recently in Tokyo an' Nagano alike..."

"Ran-chan?" Aoko blinked, tilting her head, a slight frown crossing her face. A Ran whose father was a apparently a detective... _ah_! "You don't perhaps mean Mouri Ran, by any chance? That super strong girl?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's the one!" Nodding her head, Kazuha's smile only grew. "I hired her father ta help find Heiji awhile back. He hasn't turned up any leads yet though, not so far. That said, I didn't expect it would be that easy, even with someone as reliable as the Sleepin' Kogoro on the case, considerin' even Heiji's father can't find him. Ah, but do ya know Ran-chan, Aoko-chan?"

"No, Aoko has only just heard about her." Aoko told her, shaking her head. "But she's amazing, isn't she? Stopping a runaway bus like that... what an amazing ability! If Aoko could do somethin like that, then catching Kaitou Kid would be no problem! Not to mention, she's pretty too!"

"She's certainly that." Kazuha agreed. "Then, do ya want ta come with me ta meet her sometime, Aoko-chan? Ah, but given yer situation, it might be a bit hard ta arrange such a meetin'..."

"It's fine!" With a gleam in her eyes, she knew that there was no way that she could miss this kind of chance. "Aoko would love to go with you to meet her, Kazuha-chan! Please let her come with you one of these days. She's sure that she can work something out with her father."

"Then, I'll arrange somethin' with Ran-chan when I get back." Kazuha told her. "Well, if yer with someone as strong as her, there's probably nothin' ta fear! Not ta mention, I'm not too shabby myself, ya know."

"Then, Aoko will look forward to it!" With a bright smile on her face, Aoko couldn't help but hum something of a merry tune. Being able to make a new friend, and being given a chance to meet _that_ Mouri Ran... maybe her luck was finally starting to turn around!  
______________________________________________________________________

It was only after he was one hundred percent sure that Conan had gone to bed that Heiji slipped out of the hotel room for the night. It was already late, past midnight- and while there was a part of him that was craving sleep, it would probably go away soon enough. He didn't want to risk a repeat of the previous night, and one more sleepless night wouldn't do him much harm. He didn't want to bother Conan with any more of his nightmares, nor did he want to show such a side in front of him again.

That said, it wasn't as if he was going out for no reason. He had made arrangements with Yui to turn over the charm that they had found at the abandoned building, so that the Nagano police could add it to their investigation. Turning it over directly to her increased the chances that it wouldn't just be dismissed out of hand, and though he had wanted to do it earlier, given the fact that she was busy escorting Aoko, that had been impossible. For the moment, he had done all that he could here, and it wasn't as if he could keep Conan with him forever, as nice as it was to have him around- they would probably return back to Tokyo tomorrow.

He wanted to try and check up on the person who had been looking into him, after all. And he couldn't exactly do that here. He had sent Jodie a mail yesterday about the matter, telling her to be careful, but the sooner he got back to Tokyo to look into the matter himself, the better he'd feel.

Spotting the woman just up ahead, Heiji couldn't help but glance around his surroundings once more. Of course he trusted her, but ever since she had informed him that her coworker, Yamato Kansuke, was now vaguely aware of his existence, he couldn't help but be on his guard. He didn't think that she would take any actions that would expose him further, but there was a chance that he might follow her. She seemed to put quite a bit of faith in him, but frankly, he couldn't help but have trouble trusting people these days.

He'd taken a leap of faith on Kudo and that little Neechan already- and while that had paid off in the end, there was a world of difference between the two of them.

"Uehara-han." Lifting up a hand to greet her only once he was certain that she was alone, Heiji flashed a smile in her direction. "Sorry about callin' ya out so let. How was that flashy thief's heist?"

"Mm, it was interesting, to say the least." Yui told him, giving him a slight smile. "Though I'm not quite sure they're my cup of tea. Perhaps I'm just a little bit too old."

"I take it that Kazuha was probably there with ya?" Heiji asked, unable to fight back the urge to inquire about his childhood friend, now that he had the chance. "How... how does she seem, anyways?"

"Worried about you, but otherwise fine." Yui told him, her smile dampening somewhat. Having to keep yourself separated from those that you loved must have been painful- there was no doubt that he truthfully probably just wanted to go home. "She's spending the night with Nakamori-san again tonight, and then I believe that she'll be returning home to Osaka. Will you be returning back to Tokyo yourself?"

"Yeah, that's the plan." Heiji said, nodding his head. "Ah, that's right, before I forget, here's what I called ya out here fer in the first place." Reaching into his pocket, he passed over the small silver charm to her, one that they had tucked away into a plastic bag after returning to the hotel. "We found it in that building, the one I sent ya the address fer. The Russians got there before us, but didn't seem ta find this."

"I did hear from Kan-chan that they were starting to look around the area." Yui observed with a slight frown, watching as Heiji slightly quirked a brow at the nickname. Clearing her throat to cover her mistake, and her somewhat flustered face that came as a result of it, she decided to focus on the more serious issue at hand. "I'll pass it along to him. But speaking of Inspector Yamato, there's something important that I need to tell you, Hattori-kun."

"Important?" Heiji blinked, a slight frown crossing his face. "Ya already told me that he knows that I exist. Did somethin' else happen?"

"Your father." Watching as Heiji's expression very quickly shifted to one of genuine surprise, Yui carefully tucked the plastic bag away into her own pocket. "He showed up at police headquarters this afternoon, asking to speak with the Inspector. Kan-chan won't tell me any details about what he talked about with him, but I wouldn't be surprised if he knows my name now, and that I might have some kind of connection with you. Thankfully, due to my guard duty today, I've been able to avoid speaking with him thus far, but..."

"Is he still here?" Heiji asked. Even more than Kazuha being here, this was the worst possible development. Eyes darting around the area, he couldn't help but reach a hand up, tugging the brim of his cap down further, so that it covered more of his eyes. "My old man, that is."

"He is. I don't know where he's staying, but at the very least, it's probably not at the same hotel that you moved to." Yui told him, shaking her head. "It was only by chance that I heard about it myself. It's possible that Kan-chan," clearing her throat, remembering to correct herself this time, "... _Inspector Yamato_ , might know who you are now. I can only imagine if that's the case, then your father will want to speak with me."

"There's no way that he wouldn't. He's thorough, that old man." Heaving a long sigh, Heiji scratched the back of his head. How had he managed to track him this far? Sure, there was the fact that Kazuha was here looking for him, but if that was all this was about, then the person he would have come here to speak with would have been Kazuha herself, not with a police Inspector whose only direct interaction with him had been when he was a corpse.

Unless... his eyes narrowing in thought, Heiji's hand drifted up towards his chin, mulling over what he had been suspecting all along. If one, or perhaps _both_ , of his parents knew about his ability, if they had really been complicit in concealing it from him as he had suspected, it was possible that they had been looking into police reports of that nature. For someone like his father, obtaining them would be a simple matter.

Still, this was bad... if he got too close to the truth, there was no telling what Ginger would do. His father had no reason to suspect her of any wrongdoing, nor did Kazuha's- she had been working for the police force for so long, and had a rather exemplary record, after all. If he got too close, and they decided that it would be better to prevent him from looking any further, even his own position might not be enough to protect him.

Maybe it would be for the best to tell him the truth, here and now, where the odds that those two would be able to learn about it were low, then...

No. That was still too risky. His brows knitting together as he mulled over the possibilities, Heiji let out a frustrated sigh. Just because he had traced his path this far, didn't mean that he was aware that they existed. His father wasn't an idiot, and he was pretty sure that he probably suspected that one of the reason that he had vanished was likely because someone was chasing him, but as long as he didn't figure out any of the specifics, then things would probably be fine.

Besides, in reality, he knew that if his father became aware of the truth, that the temptation to return home might become to overwhelming for him to resist. And that was a risk that he couldn't take. Just knowing Kazuha was here was more than enough to tempt him to go and meet her, to show that he was just fine, that she didn't need to worry about him. To tell her all sorts of things, all kinds of thoughts that had been bubbling up inside of him in the six months that he had been able to see her last.

Maybe nothing bad would happen.

Or maybe something would. As long as the possibility was there, he didn't want to risk it. After all, he was too aware of just what those two were capable of- knew it far, _far_ too well. Maybe a month ago, his decision here would be different, but now, after everything that he had endured in that place, he couldn't do it.

"What are ya gonna tell him?" Heiji asked finally, feeling his shoulders slump. "Any chance ya can pretend that I just ran away?"

"Given what little Kan-chan already knows, and has probably passed along to him, I don't think that I can." Yui told him, shaking her head. "I'll do what I can to throw him off your trail, Hattori-kun, but if he's anything like you, that probably won't easy."

"Of course he's like me." In spite of himself, Heiji couldn't help but let out a slight laugh. There was probably no chance of that. Once he spoke with Kazuha later, he would be able to learn that not only had he been spotted in Tokyo, but that he apparently had some kind of involvement with the mass kidnapping case. "Or rather, I guess _I'm_ the one who is like _him_. Who do ya think I take after in the first place?"

"I suppose that's true." Yui said after a moment. "At the very least, I'll pass this on to Kan-chan. If we learn anything from it, I'll pass that information along to you."

"Thanks. That would be a big help." With a curt nod of his head, Heiji took a step back, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Sorry fer troublin' ya so much, Uehara-han. I appreciate the help, though. Fer this, an' fer a whole lot of other things."

"You can trust him, you know." Yui said after a moment. "Inspector Yamato, that is."

"If ya say so, that's probably true." Heiji admitted, shrugging his shoulders. Realistically speaking, she was probably right- as his childhood friend, she would probably know best. But even if she said something like that... after having his faith in someone he had trusted for so long shattered like that, in such a way... it wasn't something that he could give out that freely anymore.

It felt like he was turning into something of a mess these days. The longer this dragged on, the more he couldn't help but feel like he was losing parts of himself, and honestly, he hated it. The harder he tried to cling to them, the easier they slipped through his fingers.

"But I guess it's not quite that easy fer me anymore."  
__________________________________________________________________

He'd left.

He might have been able to fool him with his own fake sleeping, but Heiji's own hadn't fooled Conan for even a second. The breathing was wrong, and there was the fact that he felt him very obviously looking his way every few minutes, checking to see if he had fallen asleep yet or not. Sensing that it would be for the best if he pretended to fall asleep, Conan had done his best to fool him- and the effort had paid off.

Once he was certain that Heiji had left the room, Conan slipped out from underneath his sheets. He had taken the charm that they had found with them- he was probably handing it over to that female police officer that he knew here. That in itself was something that he didn't have a problem with, and had been something they had discussed anyways.

Gaze turning towards Heiji's bag, Conan couldn't help but frown. Quickly turning his attention back towards the hotel door, before turning it back towards the bag, a considering expression crossed his face. He was almost certain that there were still things that Heiji was keeping from him, beyond just what he had endured in that place- and those, at least, were secrets he could understand why he would want to keep. It was probably difficult enough to admit that to anyone, much less to someone who he had just met- and one who had the appearance of a _child_ , he couldn't help but mentally add, a wry grin on his lips.

Carefully opening the bag up, Conan found what he was looking for right away. Picking the contact lens case up, he once more opened it up, a frown crossing his face as he noticed it was empty again. What he hadn't been wearing that morning, he was probably wearing now. And the way that he had almost seemed to be overeager to get inside before it became dark... was there some kind of connection there?

Closing the lens case and putting it back away, zipping the bag back up, Conan frowned. Turning his attention towards the window, he twitched the curtains slightly open. They didn't have much of a view from this room- he was only just barely able to make out a bit of the parking lot, and that was when it wasn't so dark out. The moon was almost full that night, but it was on the other side of the hotel, so it really didn't help much.

Closing the curtains, he turned on his heel, his brows furrowing together in thought. They had been discussing the chance that Absinthe might know some kind of secret about the existence of the Powered, that the general public wasn't aware of, but if that was the case, when had she learned it? Before she had been allowed to... tinker, for lack of a better word for it, with Heiji freely for two weeks, or after that, as the result of her research?

Once more, Conan found his thoughts drifting towards questions as to _how_ Heiji's ability worked. The ability to revive oneself from death didn't seem as if it were scientifically possible, especially not given that he could completely return to his prior state, without fail. There appeared to be no effect on his brain, other than the to be expected trauma.

Speaking of abilities that were hard to explain, it was also rather hard to explain that of the Saint of Russia's as well. That healing power of hers, the one that had earned her that moniker in the first place, was akin to a miracle. At first it had been suspected that she drew out one's natural ability to heal oneself, but the scope of her ability seemed to go far beyond that. When he thought about it, much like Heiji's, hers was also an ability that defied common sense.

Were there more, other abilities that couldn't be so easily explained? If there were such abilities, then just like with the Saint of Russia, there was no doubt that those who held them were well known- unless they had been hidden, like Heiji was. Was _that_ what Absinthe was looking for?

If that was the case, there was a good chance that those that had abilities that seemingly defied common sense might hold within them the secret of why the Powered existed in the first place. Was that was what she was after?

No, somehow that didn't seem right.

That didn't seem right... but he didn't doubt it was connected. Maybe if he really wanted answers, then he needed to go back- back eighteen years in the past, to that night in April, when mysterious lights rained down from the heavens, all around the world.

Back eighteen years. Back to that night. The reason behind everything was hidden somewhere there- and perhaps in the fact that there were so many Powered Children in Japan.

Even more so than just in Japan, come to think of it...

_"Now that you mention it, there sure were a lot of Powered born in Osaka."_

In the first place, why was that? It was almost like Osaka was the flash point for the entire event. So many of them focused in one place was something that had long since attracted the attention of scientists. Something... there was something there, wasn't there?

Hunting for his phone, Conan found the archives of a local Osakan newspaper, tracking down the articles about the event. Just as he thought, they had taken the headlines back then, pushing everything else off the front page, reducing them to tiny articles as speculation about the mysterious event took center stage. It would only be some time after that, that strange babies would have started to be born, those who had been affected by that night, and it would be even longer after that, that people would begin to realize an entire generation of children had been altered by it.

But the event itself was strange enough that people couldn't stop talking about it. It even managed to push stories that otherwise would be cover pages out of the limelight- a diet member's corruption scandal, the capture of a serial murderer by Osakan police, the escape of a lion from a local zoo, and most notably, something that without fail, would have otherwise _always_ taken the first page of the local paper of the city in which it had occurred-

A Kid heist.


	21. The Deeper the Wound

"Care for a cup of coffee, Ai-kun?"

"Ah, Professor." She must have been more lost in thought than she had thought, if the portly man had been able to sneak up on her like this. Casting a slight smile up towards him, Ai gave him an apologetic look. "Did I wake you?"

"Not at all. It was my alarm clock that did the waking." The Professor told her simply, shaking his head. At the surprised expression that crossed her face, and the way she quickly checked the clock on her laptop, it was easy to determine that not only had she lost track of time herself, but that she hadn't simply gotten up earlier than him- she probably hadn't gone to sleep in the first place.

It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, really. As one would have expected of a former researcher, she was used to going without sleep. She seemed to find some kind of comfort in throwing herself in her work, ignoring her body's basic need for sleep.

"I see." Pausing for a moment to lean back against the couch, briefly closing her eyes, Ai drew in a breath. "It's already morning, then. In that case," opening her eyes, she cast a grateful look over towards the portly man who had become something of her caretaker in these past few months, "...I would very much care for some coffee, Professor. Thank you."

"Then, I'll get a fresh pot started right away." He half wanted to chide her about staying up all night, but he knew that he wasn't really in a position to do so. If there was one thing that he had come to learn about Haibara Ai, it was that one sleepless night wasn't going to prevent her from making some rather barbed remarks. There was something extra painful about getting them from someone who had the appearance of a first grade student.

"Go easy on the sugar when you make yours, Professor." Ai noted, casting a glance up towards him, watching as Agasa flinched at her words. She didn't need to read his mind to know that was what he was thinking about- and that was part of what she liked about him, really. "Coffee's not supposed to be a sweet drink."

"I know, I know." Pulling out the coffee grounds from where he had stored them, Agasa turned back towards her with a slight frown. He wasn't going to lecture her, but he _was_ curious about what had prompted her to pull an all nighter- especially because she didn't seem to have been working on a cure for the Apotoxin. "But why the late night, Ai-kun? Are you working on something?"

"Yes, you could say that." Ai said simply, turning her focus back on her laptop. "I thought I would give Kudo-kun a bit of a hand for once."

"With what?" Taking out two coffee mugs and placing them on the counter, Agasa began the process of making coffee. "Has something come up?"

"Not quite." Ai said simply, shaking her head. "Hattori-kun mentioned it before, didn't he? That Absinthe had a burn scar on her face. She's obviously been involved in some kind of accident involving fire, so I thought I would look into the matter a bit. Unlike me, who was more or less raised among them, she was recruited by the Organization after she began her career as a scientist."

"I see." With a nod of his head, Agasa turned to look back towards the shrunken scientist, taking note of the serious expression on her face. "In other words, if she was involved in a big accident, it might have made news at some point."

"That's right. All the more so if it happened in a research lab." Ai noted, frowning slightly as she realized that this article was a bust as well. "Well, if it's something that happened to her as a child, I'm afraid we might all be out of luck there. According to what Hattori-kun told me, she must be anywhere from thirty to forty years old, so even if there was an article that fit the bill from back then, the odds that it would have been moved to an online archive are fairly low."

"Well, if it was that very same accident that caused the Organization to reach out to her in the first place, there's a chance that they might have already acted to erase all traces of it." Ai noted. "That's how they work, after all. If that's the case, then it's possible that any records of her from before she joined the Organization might have been erased."

"That would make searching for her true identity like looking for a needle in a haystack." Agasa remarked.

"Well, it's already pretty much something like that. Nothing's simple when _they're_ involved." Ai noted, letting out a small laugh. "So that's how it is, Professor. Can you contact the school and let them know I won't be coming in today? Tell them I've caught a cold, or something along those lines. Since I've gotten this far, I might as well finish doing all that I can."

"Yeah, I can do that. But be sure to take a break every now and again, Ai-kun." Agasa noted. Removing the coffee pot, he carefully poured some into a mug, bringing it over to her. "Ah, that's right though. Shinichi is supposed to be coming back today, isn't he?"

"That's right. Sometime this morning, I believe." Ai noted, accepting the coffee mug from him. She didn't mind as her fingers lightly brushed over his, giving her flashes of what was going on in his mind- there was no darkness there, only a genuine concern that softened her expression. "I don't suppose that he told you if he found anything over there or not, did he?"

"Not over the phone, no." Agasa told her, shaking his head. "Well, that's the way he always is."

"That's true." Pausing from her research for a moment, Ai took a long sip from her mug. Already she could feel the caffeine doing her some good- she could feel a second wind starting to fill her sails. "I suppose if it's anything important, he'll discuss it with us when he gets back. And if he doesn't have anything to say, I'm certain that Hattori-kun will."

Of course, if she really wanted to know what it was that Conan was thinking, all she had to do was simply touch him. But ever since he had figured out her ability, he had been avoiding direct physical contact with her- and the reasons for that were easy to guess. Not only did he not enjoy having his mind intruded on, however unintentionally it was sometimes, he also had plenty of things that he wanted to hide from her.

In that regard, Heiji was different. He was certainly hiding things too, but the reasons for them were different than Conan's. Well, it wasn't as if his reasons were selfish- honestly, she wasn't used to so many people being considerate of her. She just couldn't get used to it, a feeling that put her on edge, even as it filled her up with a familiar warmth, one that she had thought she might never get back.

Speaking of the Osakan detective, though, she still hadn't figured out what the source of their strange feeling of deja-vu was. It was true that she had cause to know his name before this, since he had been on the list of Apotoxin victims, but she was certain that she had never seen his face before- at least not in her recent memory. And something like that certainly wouldn't explain why he also seemed to have the vague feeling that they had met somewhere before.

She might have reason to know him, but the reverse wasn't true.

Perhaps there had been a time, in the distant past, when the two of them had cause to meet- so far back that it wasn't something she could easily recall. It wasn't as if she could read her own memories, and while she could dig through those of Heiji's own, that really wouldn't be one of her better ideas.

There was no darkness in Hattori Heiji- other than what had been put there recently. She didn't need the power to read minds to know that he had things that he not only didn't want to talk about, but didn't know how to talk about- and those were things that she would not want to see for herself. She had seen any number of horrible things in her days with the Organization, but to read his memories would be akin to experiencing them for herself- and she wasn't sure she was ready to handle that.

She had built steel walls around her heart in order to protect herself, but the right amount of impact could cause them to bend. Although she liked pretending otherwise, she still hadn't even begun to recover from the last great blow they took to them, a blow that pierced right through to her very heart.

The loss of her only family member- someone irreplaceable, and someone that she would never get back. Without Akemi, she was alone in the world, without anyone who cared for her, without anyone that she could open her guarded heart to.

No... perhaps that wasn't quite true anymore.

"Ah, and Professor?" Pausing to glance up towards him, Ai cast him a somewhat soft smile. "Thanks for the coffee."

* * *

"Eh? A Kid heist? Really?"

"Yeah. There was one, on that night eighteen years ago. It got pushed off the first page because of it." Casting a glance up towards Heiji, who had taken the seat closest to the window, Conan frowned. It hadn't been easy to convince him to take the same bullet train as him, but for some reason, it appeared as if he was in a hurry to get out of Nagano now.

It couldn't have been because of Kazuha, since she had been there for two days already, and it hadn't nearly been enough to chase him away from the place. Something else must have happened- though judging from his behavior, it likely had nothing to do with _them_. Whatever it was, he would ask him about it later.

Heiji hadn't settled down until they had gotten on the bullet train, and had only truly relaxed once they had left the station. Once they had, he began acting more or less like his usual self again, almost seeming to forget the initial protests that he had made against traveling together like this. By and large, he was ignoring the occasional odd look he got from their fellow passengers- that was probably something he had gotten used to over time.

Conan half just wanted to tell Heiji to lower his hood already- it might help conceal his face, but it only served to make him more suspicious. He didn't want any of the other passengers to get the wrong idea, especially not since he was traveling with what they would naturally assume was a small child. Still, he knew full well that he had his reasons- he'd rather be pegged as a suspicious person than to have someone recognize him.

"An'? What does that have to do with anythin'?" Heiji asked, tilting his head. "Somethin' like that is just a coincidence, right?"

"Who knows." Conan admitted, shaking his head. "But it _is_ true that Japan has a higher occurrence rate of Powered Children than the rest of the world, and Osaka has the highest rate in all of Japan. There must be something there, right? Maybe Osaka was the flash point for the Night of the Falling Stars, or something like that."

"When ya put it that way, it might be true." As he put his hand to his chin in thought, Conan could just barely make out Heiji's brows knitting together underneath his hood. "Frankly, I haven't really had the time ta question where these abilities originated from in the first place, but if there's a chance that Absinthe might know somethin' about that, it might not be a bad avenue ta go down."

"Then, what _have_ you been looking into all this time, other than her?" Conan couldn't help but ask, quirking a brow. "With an ability like yours, you would think you would want to understand how you came to possess it more than anyone else, right?"

"Ta be frank, what time I wasn't spendin' on lookin' into that woman, I spent on lookin' fer a way ta get rid of my ability." Heiji admitted after a moment, averting his eyes from him, fixing his gaze on the window. "I figured if there was a way ta hide it fer that long, that there must be a way ta get rid of it entirely."

"I see." Frankly, that was something he had been suspecting for awhile now- so it didn't really come as any surprise to hear it admitted out loud. He'd rather be rid of such a problematic ability like that himself, so he could understand where Heiji was coming from. "Can't say that I blame you. So? Did you have in luck with that?"

"Do ya think I would still be _alive_ right now if I had?" Heiji noted, turning a sharp look back towards him. Heaving a long sigh, he folded his arms in front of his chest, leaning back in his seat. "I didn't find anythin'. I chased several leads around the country, but all of them turned out ta be nothin'. Even the most promising one was a total bust."

He had gotten a rare chance to flex his deductive abilities while he was there, but he couldn't say that he was happy about it. After all, if that woman had really been the culprit, it would have meant that his trip there had been completely in vain- yet another lead that came up to nothing. Once he was finally ready to admit it, it wasn't that hard to convince her to turn herself in. He'd lingered on that island for several days after that, looking for anything that might indicate that it's legend was more than just a legend, and had come up with nothing.

Well, he had fallen off a cliff. There was _that_ pain in the ass incident.

"...You've got a point." Conan admitted after a moment. "Sorry, Hattori. That was a stupid question."

"S'fair." With a shrug of his shoulders, Heiji put such memories aside. "Well, even if I managed ta get rid of it, it's not like I could just go back home, like ya said before. Aside from those two, that bunch still think I'm supposed ta be dead."

"Those two, and that man." Conan noted, casting a glance up towards him, a serious expression crossing his face. "The one who called himself Amuro Tooru."

"Yeah, that's right." Narrowing his eyes, Heiji turned his head, fixing his gaze on the window. "If he's really connected to _them_ , it could be bad news. An' there's no way I can let him know that I'm connected ta ya. If they learned that I survived it, they might start lookin' harder into other Apotoxin victims who never had corpses show up fer 'em."

He'd rather not only bring more trouble to someone he was starting to view as a friend. If there was one thing that he regretted, it was not having the chance to meet him properly before this. Things might have been a lot easier for the both of them if they had been able to work together from the very start.

It would be nice to think that this ability of his might have never had the chance to wake up if they had, but in reality, he knew that it was probably only a matter of time. The only ones who knew the truth were his parents- and he couldn't exactly ask either of them.

"Sorry fer the trouble, Kudo." Casting a glance back towards Conan, Heiji gave him something of an awkward smile. "I ended up draggin' ya all the way out here, an' we didn't even get that much information. Not ta mention..."

As Heiji's gaze fell a little, Conan subconsciously reached up, pulling up the collar of his turtleneck. He was obviously still thinking about the other night- and for that, he couldn't blame him. It was to be expected that he would have nightmares, and bad ones at that, given what he suspected he had gone through while he was under Absinthe's care.

"I said it before, didn't I? You don't have to worry about something like that, Hattori." Conan told him, a bright smile appearing on his face. "And I wouldn't say our trip out here was worthless. We've been able to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that Absinthe was here, and that she brought Maria Alkaev with her. You did hand that charm bracelet piece over to that policewoman you know, right?"

"Yeah, I did. Last night." Heiji told him, eyes darting up towards Conan's as he said that. When he'd gotten back to the hotel room, he was left with the impression that Conan had moved since he had left- perhaps he had only been pretending to sleep. "She said she'll turn it over ta the officer in charge of the case this mornin'. That's also part of why we're hightailin' it out of here today. Any longer, an' I'm pretty sure that Yamato Kansuke guy would demand ta actually meet me."

"You don't think he can be trusted?" Conan asked, a slight frown crossing his face. If the policewoman that he put his faith in trusted him, then frankly, Conan saw no reason not to- but it must have been more complicated for him.

"It's not that." Heiji told him, once more fixing his gaze on the window, watching the scenery that passed by them. "It's just... I trusted that woman too, ya know. Fer a long time."

There was no need for elaboration- Conan knew what he was trying to say. It must have been a shock- to realize that someone that you had known since you were a child, someone that you had trusted, wasn't the sort of person you thought they were. That they were involved in such a shady organization, and furthermore, that they could so easily put aside years of knowing you just to kill you on the orders of someone else.

It would have been a blow to anyone- but especially to someone as honest as Heiji. And the knowledge that that person was so close to all the people that he cared about, and that he couldn't do anything about it without putting them at risk... honestly, he really couldn't blame him at all. It was bad enough to know that there was a constant phantom specter hanging over the ones that he cared about- he couldn't imagine how much more intense his worry for everyone would be if such a phantom manifested into something _real_.

No wonder it had taken Heiji awhile to finally open up to him. He was very much the same himself- keeping people at a distance, sometimes without meaning to. Ai had accused him of sneaking around, and he knew the Professor worried about him trying to do everything on his own- and he knew that they were both more or less right. If anything, they were probably grateful that someone had appeared in a similar, if not still different, situation as him.

Even if they weren't quite to the point where they could be as open as a book with each other yet, there was no denying that he too, was grateful to have someone like Hattori Heiji around. Even if in truth, he found himself wishing that he wasn't there- that his fellow high school detective could be home, with his family, not having to worry about shady Organizations or mysterious abilities.

And in turn, Heiji probably felt the same way about him. He didn't need to be a detective to know that much.

"Don't worry, Hattori." Opening his eyes once more, a look of determination surfacing within them. "Whatever they're planning, we won't let them win. Not Absinthe, and not the Organization."

"Yeah." A hint of a grin finally surfacing on his face again, Heiji's gaze trailed back towards Conan. "We'll have ta make them regret not properly finishin' the job."

* * *

"You came at just the right time, Uehara."

"Good morning, Kan-chan." Deciding that the best thing to do at this point was to swallow any nervous feelings that she had, Yui turned to face the one who had greeted her. When the use of his childhood nickname very quickly earned her the reaction she was expecting, she moved to correct herself. " _Inspector Yamato_."

"Someone showed up at the station yesterday, that I think you should know about." Kansuke told her frankly, cutting straight to the point. He never did care all that much for beating around the bush. "The father of that runaway you've been looking after for awhile now."

"So I heard." Yui told him. "It's a good thing that you brought him up though, Kan-chan. He left you a present." Reaching into her pocket, she carefully removed the plastic bag with the charm tucked inside of it. "Does this ring any bells with you?"

"A necklace pendent? No, it's a bit too small for one." Taking it from her, the issue of Hattori Heiji forgotten for a moment, Kansuke's brows furrowed together in thought. He did get the feeling that he had seen this somewhere before, and recently at that. But where had he...?

 _Ah_.

"It's from that girl's charm bracelet." Yui told him, even though she knew he had already figured it out for himself. She hadn't grown up with him for nothing- he was rather easy to read in times like these. "I can give you the address it was found in as well. It seems that the Russians have beat us there, however."

"And without even contacting the local police. What charmers." Kansuke couldn't help but remark, tucking the plastic bag away in his jacket pocket for the moment. He would bring it to forensics before long to have it properly examined- probably the reason why it had been entrusted to the police in the first place.

Perhaps it was that kid's way of apologizing for sneaking around behind their backs. A high school detective- the world really was filled with all kinds of types, wasn't it?

Now more so than ever, he supposed. What once seemed like something out of a work of fiction was now reality. Children being born with strange abilities sounded like something that couldn't possibly be real, but there was no way to deny that they now existed in this world.

"So? You said the father was here to see me?" Yui asked. "Coming out all this way even though he has such an important job. He must really care about his son."

"Ah, so it would seem." With a curt nod of his head, Kansuke took note of the way that she had answered his last, lingering question- if she knew exactly who the parents of the runaway that she had gotten herself involved with were. "I suppose he wants to personally thank the one who has been helping look after him all this time."

"And ask me a few questions about where he is while he's at it, I'm sure." Yui noted, heaving a long sigh, before giving Kansuke a small smile. "Alright then, Kan-chan. I'm ready."

"From your attitude, I take it the kid's already left, huh?" Kansuke noted, quirking a brow. She might accuse him of being easy to read sometimes, but she was the same way, really- they were childhood friends, after all.

"He left this morning, apparently." Yui admitted. It was probably in her best interest to be as honest as possible at this point. "But even if you ask me, I don't know exactly where he went."

"Well, it's not _me_ doing the asking." Kansuke noted, casting his good eye down on her. "From the sound of what he had to say, you should really be careful, Uehara. Don't get yourself involved with that kid any more than this."

"Are you mad at me, Kan-chan?" Yui asked, a hint of a smile on her face as she glanced up towards him. "That I didn't tell you anything about this? Or because I lied to the officer that came to the Torada house that night?"

"I wouldn't say you were lying, seeing as he was asking about a corpse thief, and not the corpse itself." Kansuke noted, a hint of a grin appearing on his face. "Seeing as the corpse just decided to get up and walk away on it's own. I guess the ghost stories weren't complete bull after all. But there's one thing that I need to ask you, Uehara."

"What?" At the serious expression that settled on Kansuke's face, Yui couldn't help but pause midstep, listening to the sound of his cane as it struck the ground once more, before stopping as well. "From the sound of it, he must have already told you quite a bit."

"Yeah, he told me all sorts of things." Kansuke admitted, closing his good eye. It was almost hard to believe, really- though it would explain things. "And what he didn't tell me, I was more or less able to figure out on my own. But what I want to know is something that only you can tell me, Uehara."

Opening up his eye, Kansuke carefully studied the young woman that was now working underneath is command once more. It had been strangely lonely when he had gotten back to discover that she was no longer with the police- not that it was something that he had ever quite said out loud, in so many words. After making her wait so long without any word, he really didn't have the grounds to complain about whatever she decided to do.

"Why did you decide to hide that kid in the first place?"

"Oh, that's easy." Yui said, clasping her hands behind her back, a hint of a mischievous smile crossing her face as she took a few steps forward, so that she passed him. "But you're the only one I won't tell, Kan-chan. That's something you'll have to figure out on your own."

"Oi, Uehara-!"

As she cut him off, Yui cast a glance behind her at him. "Come on now, Inspector Yamato. We can't exactly keep our important guest waiting for much longer."

Well, knowing Kansuke as she did, it probably take him awhile yet to realize the reason behind it. He'd have to actually meet the boy in question himself first- and even then, in spite of being so clever, he might not be able to realize the reason why. Even though she was pretty sure that those who knew him as a child would be able to see through the truth easily.

There were times when he could be awfully _lacking_ in self awareness, after all.

* * *

From the way that he spoke of his father, it was clear to her that Hattori Heizo was a man that Heiji respected- even if he wasn't honest about it. In terms of personality, they were clearly total opposites- that much she could tell right away, mere seconds after being introduced to him.

If Hattori Heiji wore his heart on his sleeve, then Hattori Heizo most certainly did not. Perhaps he'd taken after his mother in that regard, or perhaps it was a trait all his own, independent of his parents. Very quickly, she decided that it was far easier to deal with the son, than it was to deal with the father.

"He's already left." It was the first thing that came to her mind, and the second thing that she said to him, right after introducing herself to the man. If his face fell any at her words, she honestly couldn't tell. "I don't know where he's gone."

"So he really was here." Heizo noted, opening a single eye to carefully assess the young woman in front of him. He had been told quite a bit about her already from the Inspector, about how she had been acting as if she had been hiding someone since around four months ago. The time the corpse vanished from the police morgue, and the time she took in her mysterious freeloader matched up perfectly, leaving very little doubt in his mind that they were one and the same.

The fact that he had been spotted using a motorcycle that had been rented underneath the woman's name erased any lingering doubts that he might have. He'd gotten the details of that from Kansuke as well- and what he had told him only managed to confirm some of Heizo's worst fears.

His son was unmistakably involved with something dangerous. If he was looking into the disappearance of the Saint of Russia, then there was next to no question about it. That left only the question of _why_.

And _who_.

He knew full well that he might not always seem to be the most caring father on the surface- but make no mistake, were he to ever learn the identities of the ones that had been chasing after his son, the ones who had caused his wife so much worry, he wouldn't let them off easy. They would learn, the hard way if necessary, exactly how much it was that he cared about his wayward, troublesome son.

"I want you to be honest with me, Uehara-san." Heizo began, this time opening both eyes, locking his with hers. "What exactly is it that Heiji has gotten himself involved in?"

"I don't know the details." That much was true- he had never really involved her that far. "But I do know that he's trying to hide from someone. Someone who may be connected to some very dangerous people."

"What kind of dangerous people?" Heizo asked, gauging her reactions as she spoke. Thus far, it didn't appear that she had lied to him- though perhaps there were things she hadn't yet said.

"I don't know." Yui admitted after a moment, shaking her head. "What I do know is very little. I'm sure you already know about the recent kidnapping cases, Hattori-san. There have been some in your prefecture as well, if I recall."

"That's correct." Heizo said simply. "Are you saying there's a connection there?"

"Yes." That much, she thought she could share with him- and it was important that she did. "There is. The recent kidnapping of the Powered known as the Saint of Russia is connected as well."

Her words left a silence in the air, one that lingered, creating a heavy feeling in the room. Finally, it was Heizo himself who broke it, asking a question that quite frankly, took her off guard.

"How is he?"

"Eh?" It was the most reasonable question of all, and yet it was also the one that she had been the least prepared for. Composing herself once again, Yui simply gave him a small smile- so he really was just a worried father at his core, wasn't he?

She just wished that she had a better answer to give him.

"He's alive." It was an answer that she came to after much thought, even if it was one that sounded somewhat silly. "And he has allies, other than me. Ones who know more than me. He's not walking into danger alone, at the very least."

For a moment, she could have sworn that she had seen a look of relief wash across the man's face- before it settled once more back into a stoic mask. It was almost enough to have her entertain the idea of giving him Heiji's cellphone number- but that wasn't her call to make.

And if there was one thing that Heiji had made clear, it was that there was some kind of danger lurking back in Osaka. A danger that had caused him to leave his beloved hometown without a word in the first place. A danger that forced him to continue to hold his silence, to not contact the ones that he cared about the most, even though he knew that they were all deeply worried about him.

"But he can't come home, not right now." It was a bit of a gamble, really, saying this here. "I don't know the details either, but there's someone there that he's afraid of."

"Afraid?" Ever since he was a child, his son had always been prone to a wide range of emotions- but _fear_ wasn't usually one of them. Fear for others, perhaps- but very rarely did he fear anything himself. To hear that there was someone that he was actually afraid of was quite the shock to him- even as he already felt the gears of his mind turning, trying to puzzle out who it might be.

And _why_.

"Yes." Yui said, nodding her head. "I think it was someone that he trusted, once. He's never said that much to me in words, but that's always the feeling I get."

"I see." Putting his hand to his chin in thought, the furrow of Heizo's brows deepened. He certainly had the right to be angry at both himself and Shizuka, for keeping such an important thing from him- even if only the latter had actually known about it- but that wasn't the same as being afraid.

The fact that Heiji was even willing to _admit_ that he was afraid of something- or _someone_ \- was noteworthy in itself, really. Expressive though he was, he was also the type who tended to bottle up his problems, the type who hated to admit his weakness to others. That trait of his was probably his own fault, Heizo knew.

And it was that trait of his, even more than his reckless and impulsive nature, that Heizo was concerned the most about. His body might be immortal, but there was only so much that the human heart could take before things started to break.

Still, if there really was someone close to them that was preventing Heiji from contacting them, then he would have to make it his priority to find out just who they were. In the back of his mind, a chilling possibility was starting to form- not about their identity, but rather, about what it was that they might have done to have stirred such an emotion in his son. It also provided the answer to _another_ question that he had been asking, ever since he had learned about Heiji's ability from Shizuka.

Almost regrettably so.

After all, in order to be charged with murder, one's victim had to be actually _dead_.

* * *

"I hear your boss has been awfully busy as of late."

"She does enjoy keeping herself occupied." If he expected her to flinch at his words, he had another thing coming. She knew his reputation within the Organization well enough, but that wasn't nearly enough to intimidate her- especially not when he had the audacity to show up on her own turf. "And? What brings you out to these parts, Bourbon?"

"You should already know the answer to that, Ginger." Amuro said simply, casting a rather business-like smile towards her, every inch of it as artificial as it could get. "It would seem that Absinthe has been engaged in some _very interesting_ research at the moment. It's nice to see that the loss of her lab in Gunma hasn't set her back any."

"She's used to enduring losses like that." Ginger noted simply, closing her eyes. "And? If you have anything that you need to say to me, Bourbon, I recommend that you do it quickly. I am on duty right now, after all."

"Oh, do pardon me. I don't mean to take up your valuable time." Amuro noted. It didn't take any effort to bite his tongue and swallow back that the idea of one of _them_ being involved with the police made him sick. The fact that she wasn't the only one was even worse- but unfortunately, he wasn't in a position where he could compromise her identity at the moment.

As it stood now, it was for the best anyways. Right now, she was his only real link to Absinthe- and through her, he might be able to learn where her current lab was located. He'd considered the possibility that she might have relocated to Osaka, but he didn't think she'd make a move as obvious as that, given what he knew of her personality.

"Then, just pass a message from me on to Absinthe, in that case." Amuro said simply, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets. "That person is quite eager to have her explain herself to him in regards to why she's taking such actions now. If she should do something that risks comprising the Organization as a whole, I'm sure you both understand what will happen."

"Are you sure about that?" Ginger asked in return, a hint of a sly grin crossing her face. "I thought that there were signs that someone had snuck into the lab in Gunma before, but it was that woman, wasn't it? Of course, Absinthe noticed them as well. Well, given that she's sent you out here to ask questions of me, it's obvious that she didn't learn exactly what it was that we're researching currently. But I'm sure that you understand enough, Bourbon- that the research she's doing now will prove invaluable to that person in the long run."

"But just like any truly groundbreaking research, it requires sacrifices." Ginger noted, almost as an afterthought. "Don't worry though. I won't get careless. I happen to know how the police work, rather well at that."

"That I know well." Bourbon admitted after a moment, closing his eyes. "Then, how about we make a trade, Ginger? You tell me the location of her current lab, and I tell you the location of the one that you're looking for at the moment."

"So you already know that much?" There was no surprise in her tone- if there was one thing that Bourbon was good at, it was sneaking around and gathering information. That was part of the reason that she couldn't stand him. "Then, if you do, then you should already know just how important the research we're doing currently is. And why I can't let you interfere. Both you and _that woman_."

"How is it that you think the FBI learned the location of our previous lab in the first place?" Ginger asked him simply, locking eyes with him. "If she tries something like that again, I don't really care if she's the favorite of the boss or whatever, but I don't intend to let it slide."

"Now, now, there's no need for threats." Holding up his hands, a perfectly practiced act of someone wanting to deescalate a situation in place, Amuro very quickly returned her sly grin with one of his own. The fact that Vermouth had her own agenda was hardly news to him- and he didn't doubt that agenda was part of the reason that she had called him in. "Well, just in case, I'll pass that message along to her."

"But I take it that you have no interest in my offer then?"

"None at all." Ginger noted simply. "After all, unless he decides to go to the earth again, locating him won't be that difficult. Thanks to that _dear childhood friend_ of his, I already know where he's been recently. It's only a matter of time before he and I reunite once more."

Were he fainter of heart, the smile that she slipped on her face would have sent a chill down his spine. "After all," placing a hand over her heart, Kurosawa Ayame closed her eyes, a practiced expression of concern slipping on her face, "...we've all been so very worried about Heiji-kun here. As someone who has watched him grow up since he was just a boy, I would hate it if something terrible happened to him."

"You really are an awful woman." There were thorns in Amuro's words- ones that missed their mark by a mile.

"I'll take that as a compliment."


	22. Aftermath and Advancement

"Are you certain that this is a good idea, young master?"

"No, not at all." His tone was rather frank, sensing no need to beat around the bush about this one. "That's why we're doing extensive research into this _Green Fairy_ first."

Still, dangerous though it might be, there was no way he could reject such a straightforward challenge. He might not know who it was that had slipped the note into his pocket, nor what their motives were- but whatever the case, it would be an insult to the name of Kaitou Kid if he didn't raise to the occasion. He couldn't have that.

"Still, I've got to say, I'm not hearing _one_ good thing about this jewel." Scratching his head, Kaito frowned. "And I thought the Hope Diamond was cursed. Compared to this, that one almost seems _tame_ in comparison. Why would someone even want to own something like this?"

"Some people are drawn to objects with notorious history." Jii noted, casting a glance down towards the laptop screen. "Others simply don't believe in that type of talk, and will purchase such items regardless. On occasion, it can be a mixture of both."

"You sound like you're speaking from experience there, Jii-chan." Glancing up towards the old man with a wry grin, Kaito couldn't help but arch a brow. "You got anything lying around here that I should be worried about?"

"No, but it wouldn't be the first time that Kaitou Kid has stolen a jewel reputed to be cursed." Jii noted, shaking his head. "Your father did it several times before this."

"Oh, did he now?" Kaito noted, turning his attention back towards his laptop. "Well, like father, like son, I guess. Maybe the person who slipped me that note wanted the jewel taken away from it's current owner for fear of it's curse, for all I know. Still, there are more direct ways to reach me if they really wanted me to do that. Just take a page from that old man Suzuki's playbook."

It fit the bill after all, this Green Fairy. Once, in the past, it appeared to have been an emerald brooch in the ownership of a noblewoman from England of some ill repute, until it was taken from her- alongside her life. That was probably where it had picked up it's dubious curse from- it was said that anyone after that who owned it would soon experience disaster, as if it were being haunted by the vengeful ghost of the woman who wanted neither jewel nor life taken away from her.

Certainly, there were any number of foul fates that had befallen it's previous owners, that much couldn't be denied. But though he might know a witch, Kaito frankly couldn't say that he believed in curses- if anything, he was more worried about the dubious challenge that had been issued to him. He still hadn't decided if he was going to accept it or not- though part of him was already formulating plans on how to steal the jewel in question.

It was currently being displayed in an art museum in Osaka, from the look of things. It had been donated there by an anonymous donor around half a year ago, and had been on display ever since then with their permission. For the moment, it would appear as if no disaster had befallen the art museum it was displayed in, but he couldn't help but wonder if the lengths that they had taken to protect the jewel had less to do with wanting to keep away thieves, and more to keep it's curse contained within.

Osaka, though... if there was one thing that stood out to him about this, it was the fact that the gemstone was located there. It might very well be coincidence, but Kaito frankly believed in coincidences even less than he believed in curses.

Still, if it really was somehow related to that high school detective, then there was a chance that by accepting this challenge, he might able to learn something about the people who were after Aoko. Of course, he needed to make sure that the Inspector kept his daughter well away from the scene of the heist, should he decide to accept it- he wasn't willing to put her at risk.

"So? Are you accepting the challenge, young master?" Jii asked. "Whatever your decision, I shall support you to the very end."

"Thanks, Jii-chan." With a fierce grin on his face, Kaito pushed his chair back, rising to his feet. "Well then- why don't I start with going to see this cursed emerald for myself?"

And maybe poke around Osaka for some clues of another kind. He might not be a detective, but he couldn't let Hakuba have all the fun here.

* * *

"You haven't been sleeping lately, have you?"

"Now wherever would ya get that idea?" Ignoring the fact that he was on his second cup of coffee, when he wasn't normally that heavy of a coffee drinker, Heiji merely cast a glance over towards Jodie. "I've been sleepin' just fine."

"Mm, I think not." Jodie noted, reaching out to tap the edge of his coffee mug with a spoon. "You've been on edge ever since you got back from Nagano, and you haven't told me why."

"Do I have ta tell ya everythin'?" Heiji asked with a frown. "I told ya about the important stuff already, so why do my sleepin' habits matter ta ya? Yer job is just ta keep an eye on me fer the FBI, isn't it?"

"My job is to keep you _safe_." Jodie clarified. "And to put a roof over your head, and food in your stomach. Not to mention give you a place to sleep, which isn't of much use if you don't actually use it."

"I've been usin' it!" Heiji insisted. "Geez, ya sound like my mother or somethin'."

"For the time being, I suppose I have to fill in for that role." Jodie told him, leaning back in her chair, leveling her gaze towards him. "I heard from Mouri-san that Cool Kid came back home from visiting his mother around the same time you came back from Nagano. Not to mention that he left on the same day as you did. I thought you only said that you went to take a look at him?"

She suspected that wasn't the only secret he was keeping from them about his recent trip to Nagano- in fact, there was a whole slew of things that she felt he was keeping secret. Since they didn't seem to pertain to the Organization, for the moment, she had decided to not press him too much- but this, at least, was something that she wanted to know.

"An' I did!" Heiji insisted, an expression of offense on his face. "Are ya callin' me a liar, Jodie-han? Besides, what would I even do with that kid even if I brought him with me fer some reason? He might be smart, but wouldn't that just be puttin' him in danger?"

"I suspect it's because you know something about him that we don't." Jodie noted, arching a brow. "So? What kind of person is he really, this Cool Kid? I've mentioned them before to you, but that Vermouth seems unusually interested in him."

"Interested?" Heiji asked, tilting his head with a frown. Come to think of it, he had been focusing so hard on Absinthe, he had almost forgotten this Vermouth person. "Like how?"

"Answer my question first, and then I'll answer yours." Jodie told him. "I won't even make you tell me whatever it is that he's keeping a secret. A fair trade, wouldn't you say?"

Narrowing his eyes, Heiji considered her offer for a moment. Finally heaving a long sigh, he rubbed the back of his head, quirking a brow. "Fine, fine. I'll tell ya that much at least, since ya seem ta have me figured out already. He's not someone that ya need ta worry about, if that's what yer askin'. I don't know what kind of interest ya think this Vermouth person has in him, but it's safe ta say that he's just as much their enemy as you or me."

"That's good, then." Jodie said, nodding her head. "To answer your question, Vermouth has in the past taken action to defend him from harm. Given her personality, it's something that strikes me as unusual."

"Defend him?" Heiji blinked. "What a minute, are ya sayin' that they've already crossed paths?!"

"That's right." Jodie said, nodding her head. "If he really is our ally, I'd like to work with him. He definitely doesn't seem like an ordinary child, that much I can already tell. I'm not asking you to bring him before James or Shu, but at the very least, I'd like to speak with him in earnest."

"As more than just that Neechan's English teacher, ya mean?" Heiji noted, leaning back in his chair. "Well, I'll think about it. That kid's got his own circumstances though, so he's probably goin' ta be suspicious of yer offer, kind as ya are ta me."

"Not ta mention a lil miffed at _me_ fer lettin' this much slip." Heiji mumbled, mostly for his own benefit. Well, if he could pass him along some info about an Organization member that was obviously causing problems for him, maybe Kudo would forgive him. "So? Did ya find anythin' out about that guy from Poirot?"

"The young man named Amuro Tooru?" Jodie asked, shaking her head. "No, nothing yet. There's only so much we can do without alerting him to our investigation, and we'd rather not give him reason to suspect that we have our eyes on Mouri Kogoro as well. Well, although to be precise, the one we're really watching is that Edogawa Conan boy living with him."

That was the truth- but there was something that was still bothering her. As soon as she had passed a description along to Shu of the person in question, his expression had changed. It was as if he were considering something- but whatever it was, he was keeping it to himself thus far.

At this point, she knew him well enough to know that he likely had something- but for whatever reason, didn't feel the need to share it with them just yet. If matters changed, perhaps she would press him for what he was keeping a secret- she respected him as a fellow agent, but she didn't think that habit of his was very useful for their overall investigation.

"That's true. We wouldn't want him tryin' anythin' funny." Rubbing the back of his neck, Heiji cast a glance down towards his breakfast, before letting out another sigh. Lately he didn't have much of an appetite- but he hadn't been sleeping that well lately either.

Or at all, really.

"Well, I'm done here." Heiji told Jodie, getting to his feet, scooping up his dishes before she could protest. "Thanks fer the food."

* * *

Kaito was up to something, of that much he was certain. That much had been true ever since they had returned from Nagano- or perhaps it was better to say ever since _before_ they'd departed. While one could certainly claim that Kuroba Kaito was in an almost perpetual state of Being Up To Something, his current behavior had done more than enough to catch his attention. Considering that Kaito had so suddenly taken a day off of school, it would seem that his suspicions were completely on point.

Finding out what he was up to wasn't as easy as he had hoped- as he thought, even though they had agreed to work together to try and uncover the truth behind Aoko's attempted kidnapping, he still didn't trust him. Not that it came as any surprise- even if his suspicions about him being Kaitou Kid were somehow mistaken, they didn't have anything close to what he could call a friendship.

Nor was he particularly seeking one out, either. If he truly was Kaitou Kid, then regardless of whatever reason he might have behind his actions, he still needed to be caught. And if he wasn't? Then that just made Hakuba some random detective who was accusing him of something he had nothing to do with, and that was never a very good way to start a friendship.

"Are you curious about Kuroba-kun?"

Glancing up at the sound of his classmate's voice, Hakuba couldn't help but frown. He thought he had been masking his thoughts well, but perhaps not nearly so well as he thought. That said, Koizumi Akako did have a tendency to be able to read people as if they were an open book- he'd noticed that much about her.

He'd _also_ noticed the strange way his heart pounded when she was around, and though he found it curious, for the large part, he could somewhat manage to ignore it.

"What makes you ask that, Koizumi-san?" Hakuba asked, standing up straight.

"When someone pensively gazes out of a window, they're generally thinking about something." Akako stated simply, giving him a shrug of her shoulders. "Given the fact that you've been boring holes into the back of Kuroba-kun's head whenever you think he's not looking lately, it's not too hard to guess that whatever you're thinking about has something to do with him."

"If you've seen through that much, I suppose I can't exactly deny it." Hakuba noted. "Have you ever considered becoming a detective yourself, Koizumi-san?"

"No, never." Akako said simply, turning on her heel, leaning her back against the window. "I have no interest in things of that nature. Besides, I would hardly want to steal your thunder from you, Hakuba-kun."

Some part of him bristled at that comment, at the way she sounded so certain that she would be able to outshine him if she tried, but he kept his mouth shut on that matter. "Did you need me for something, then? Or did you merely come over here to inquire about Kuroba-kun?"

"I suppose I did." Akako noted, her eyes faintly narrowing. Though days had passed since then, she was still unable to see the futures of Kaito, or anyone that was close to him- and it was something that troubled her more and more with each passing day. It was not as if she had lost her visions of the future, far from it- for when she had checked, she could see the futures of others just fine.

No, it was only Kaito, and those close to him, for whom the door to the future had closed. Most likely it meant that there was an event coming soon that would shake the future in such a way that the results were something that not even Lucifer himself could predict. Either that, or they had come into contact with something that clouded the very fabric of the future itself.

That faint red gleam that she saw every time she attempted to do so... what was that? Whatever it was, it was something that sent a chill down her spine, witch though she might be.

"You would be wise to be careful, Hakuba-kun." Akako said finally, her expression grave. "These are troubling times."

"That much I know without having to be told." Frowning deeply at her words, Hakuba's brows knotted together, wondering if perhaps there was some reason behind her words. "What is it, exactly, that I should be careful of?"

"That I cannot say." Akako admitted, shaking her head. "Only that it would be wise to keep your distance from Kaitou Kid for the foreseeable future."

"Oh? I wasn't aware that you had any interest in Kid, Koizumi-san." Now giving the girl his full attention, Hakuba found himself searching her face for answers yet spoken, but found none. "Are you claiming that you know what might lie in store for him?"

"No." Akako told him honestly, closing her eyes. "That's the problem."

* * *

"Eh? Haibara did?"

"That's right." With a firm nod of his head, Agasa turned his head towards the basement. "She was looking into it while the two of you were gone."

"Is that so?" Blinking a little, Conan turned his head in the direction of the basement himself, more than a little surprised. It wasn't like her to take the initiative like that, not when it came to the Organization. She would rather run away from them than face them head on- unless the latter meant that she would be able to protect someone close to her in her stead.

Well, it was true that Absinthe's actions were worrisome. It wasn't just about them anymore- while they sat around here, who knew what she was doing to the people that she had kidnapped. No more corpses had turned up yet- but he didn't doubt more would be on the way. Unless, of course, there were others- and they simply just hadn't been found yet.

"So? Did she find anything?" Conan asked, turning back to the Professor. "Anything could be useful right now."

"She said she was still looking into the matter, and that she would compile any articles that looked important when she was done." Agasa told him. "If I recall, she was busy checking foreign news sites this morning, so I imagine it'll be awhile yet before she turns up any results."

"Well, even if Absinthe was involved in an accident outside of the country, it's clear that her lab is somewhere within the confines of Japan." Conan said. "Otherwise she wouldn't have brought the Saint of Russia all the way out here. Seeing as her right hand woman works in Osaka, it's doubtful that she would want to put _too_ much distance between the two of them."

"Eh? Is that true?" Agasa blinked, his eyes narrowing. "Come to think of it, Hattori-kun did mention something like that, but..."

"Ah, sorry, Professor. Forget I said that." Holding up his hands, Conan gave him a pleading look. "I promised Hattori I wouldn't talk about it. It's a bit of a delicate situation."

"Very well." With a firm nod of his head, Agasa rose to his feet. "Is he coming over today as well? Hattori-kun, I mean."

"Yeah, that was the plan." Conan said, nodding his head. "We were planning on discussing _that matter_."

Letting his gaze flicker back towards the basement, his lips twisted in a frown. She might be trying to help them this time, but it was better if Ai didn't know about this- if she knew that someone from the Organization had come so close to them, there was no telling what kind of action she might take.

"That matter?" Agasa blinked, taking a moment to realize what he was talking about. "Ah, that matter! But are you sure it's alright, to have that kind of conversation here? What if she hears you?"

"We won't be." Conan told him, shaking his head. "We're only just meeting up here. Really, it should be somewhere else, but Hattori doesn't know Tokyo all that well. Well, considering that he's spent a fair amount of his time here cooped up in Jodie-sensei's apartment, it's no wonder."

Lifting his head at the sound of the doorbell, a hint of a smile crossed his face. If there was one thing that they had both gained from this situation, it was someone who could understand the other. He couldn't claim that he wasn't happy to have gotten a chance to get to know Hattori Heiji- though, granted, he would have preferred better circumstances for it.

"Oh, speak of the devil."

* * *

If there was one thing that Toyama Ginshiro did not enjoy seeing, it was his daughter in such a state. It wasn't as if she was so worried about Heiji that she couldn't focus on her normal life, but it hung over her like a cloud, remaining something that she was unable to forget, even in her happiest moments. For putting her through such a thing, he almost wanted to be angry at the son of his old friend- but he knew that the reason behind Heiji's disappearance was not to simply cause Kazuha pain.

When she had called him out of the blue and informed him that Heiji had been spotted in Nagano, he had been hoping that when she returned home, she would be bringing Heizo's wayward son home with her. All the more so when he heard from Heizo himself that he was headed that way- a thing he had strangely asked Ginshiro to keep to himself.

He'd complied, of course. If Heizo was the one saying it, then he doubtlessly had good reason for it.

In the end, neither of them had returned with the wayward high school detective in tow, though form the sound if it, they had both picked up traces of him. Kazuha was more than willing to share what she had learned with him, but Heizo, strangely, had been rather silent- as if he were still thinking deeply on the matter. Since that wasn't unusual behavior for him, Ginshiro had let it go, knowing that if there was something that he needed to discuss with him, the man would come to him.

Sure enough, he did.

And sure enough, what he had to tell him was something that very much needed to be kept private indeed.

"You think there's a chance that there's some kind of spy in the police force?" Ginshiro asked, narrowing his eyes. If what he were saying was true, then he could understand why Heizo had called him to such an out of the way location to have this talk. This wasn't the sort of thing they could afford to have anyone overhear.

"I'm not yet certain if _spy_ is the correct word for it." Heizo noted, his expression more grave than usual. "But according to what Uehara-han said, it would appear that there's someone here that Heiji is afraid of."

"Now there's two words I thought I would never hear together in a sentence." Ginshiro couldn't help but note, leaning back in his chair. "What makes you certain that they're involved with the police, this person that Heiji is afraid of?"

"No, I'm not certain yet." Heizo admitted. "But it is the most likely place. From the sound of it, whoever this person was, it was someone that he used to trust."

"That would be much easier to go off of, if Heiji didn't have such a good relationship with most of the officers around here." Ginshiro couldn't help but note, his lips twisting into a frown. "It would be more difficult to find an officer who didn't like your son, Heizo."

"So I'm aware." Heizo said simply. "You spend more time on the floor than I do, Toyama. I want you to keep an eye out for anyone acting suspiciously, and report back to me if you find them. Whatever you do, don't make any moves yourself. If this is someone that has effectively sent Heiji into hiding, there must be something more behind them."

"I suppose I should consider myself grateful that you've put enough faith in me to trust me with this task." Ginshiro said. "Though I sense there's something about this story that you haven't yet told me."

"Mm." Opening one eye, Heizo cast a studious look over towards his old friend. "When all of this is over, I'll tell you then, Toyama. Provided it doesn't come out into the open before that."

"I'm assuming that whatever this thing is, you don't want the latter to happen." Ginshiro noted. "But I understand. Is there anything that you want me to do about my daughter? From the way you're saying it, this situation might be more dangerous than we first thought."

"Keep an eye on her." Heizo told him simply. "It's true that your daughter's ability makes her a hard one to capture, but whoever is orchestrating all of this from behind the scenes has considerable reach. I'd rather not see anything happen to her- and I'm sure that's part of the reason why Heiji hasn't tried to contact any of us since he vanished."

"I'm assuming you don't want me to mention a word of this to Kazuha." Ginshiro noted, merely arching a brow. Now that she had not only confirmed that Heiji was alive and well, but had also obtained a clue to his whereabouts, that was going to be easier said than done. When your daughter could travel around the world in a blink of an eye, it was very hard to keep fully keep track of her.

"Not a word." Heizo told him, shaking his head. "And make sure to do another background check on that detective she hired. I don't know yet what it is that my fool of a son has managed to get himself mixed up in, but whatever it is, it's something far bigger than just the two of us. I don't want any lose ends lying around that could put things at risk."

With a curt nod of his head, Ginshiro rose to his feet. He got the distinct sense that there was no time to waste. "Then, I'll begin that right away." Lingering for a moment longer, he cast his gaze back towards his longtime friend. He might not always show it on his face, but he knew that he was worried. Any decent father would be.

"I'm sure he'll be alright, Heizo." Ginshiro told him. "He's tough, and clever at that. From the sound of it, he's not alone either."

There was something in the vague, non-committal response Heizo gave him that left Ginshiro with the impression that perhaps it wasn't just a matter of preventing something from happening- but rather, that something had _already_ happened.

* * *

"So? How'd things go with that Neechan of yers once ya got back?" With a broad smile on his face, Heiji glanced down at the not-child by his feet, for the moment, avoiding either of the two topics that he needed to bring up with him. "She fuss over little _Conan-kun_ a lot?"

"Shut up." Grumbling, Conan shot an irritated glare up towards Heiji. "She doesn't baby me to that extent."

"So yer admittin' that she _does_ baby ya." Unable to keep the amusement out of his voice, Heiji brushed off the glower that was shot up towards him. "Now, now, there's no need actin' like that. I heard gettin' angry all the time ain't good fer yer growth."

"I'll leave." Stopping in his tracks, Conan narrowed his eyes. "Right now, if you don't cut that out already, Hattori. How would you feel if you were in _my_ shoes?"

"Sorry, sorry. I just can't help it." Quickly sensing that he had bothered his friend, Heiji apologized. "Besides, I almost was, ya know. In yer shoes that is."

"No, from the sound of it, without your ability, you probably wouldn't have survived." Conan noted, letting out a slight sigh. "That's how dangerous the drug we're dealing with here is. And from the sound of it, Absinthe has been using it freely."

"In my case, ya mean?" Heiji asked, pointing towards himself. "She just seemed like she wanted ta test it with me, from the sound of it, she hadn't tried ta use it on anyone else yet."

"That's part of it, but..." Turning his gaze away from him, Conan furrowed his brow in thought. Calling the Inspector again had been one of the very first things he had done upon returning to Tokyo, to see if he couldn't get more information from him. While the man had pressed him a bit more for details this time around, he was mostly able to worm his way out of his questions, and get the information that he needed.

"Based on the autopsy report for the corpse that was found a few days ago, the odds that his cause of death was due to Apotoxin are high." Conan told him. The idea that there were people out there going through the same pain that he had been forced through caused him to shudder- but it made it all the more important that they capture Absinthe quickly.

If one of those that she poisoned with it managed to survive, it was possible that the Organization might come to learn of it. And if they did...

Right now, Absinthe's secretive nature was the only thing that was preventing this from turning into a catastrophe. For that, he was grateful, but it wasn't a situation that could last forever. If the Organization itself really was looking into her current activities, then they had to find her before they did, at all costs.

"So she's got herself a new toy, an' she's havin' a time playin' with it, in other words." Heiji remarked, an expression of barely veiled disgust on his face. "Sounds like her."

"Well, you'd know her best, unfortunately." Conan said. "Well, with any luck, Haibara might be able to turn something up in her search. If we could just get her real name, we could make some real progress."

"Ah, that's right, speakin' of names," Halting in his tracks, nearly causing the shrunken detective to collide into him, Heiji sent a somewhat apologetic glance down towards him. "Jodie-han told me somethin', the other day. It _completely_ slipped my mind until now, what with all the other stuff goin' on."

"Jodie-sensei did?" Conan asked, blinking a little. "You seem on pretty good terms with her. I would have thought that the FBI would be intent on keeping you under lock and eye, frankly."

"I get the feelin' that some of 'em do." Heiji noted, shrugging his shoulders. "Least it'd make a better prison than the one I was in before."

"Hattori-" Opening his mouth to say something, Conan once more found himself cut off, watching with growing irritation as Heiji brushed off the topic.

"Now, now, don't make that kind of face." Heiji told him, forcing a bright smile on his face, grateful that his hood shadowed his eyes. "More importantly, besides that shady Amuro guy, it seems like there's another Organization member around ya. One that's taken a bit of interest in ya, at that."

Blinking a little as his words didn't quite earn the reaction he had been expecting, Heiji slightly tilted his head. "Ya don't seem all that surprised."

"I'm not." Conan told him frankly, shaking his head. "You're the one who said it, right? That when I came to Jodie-sensei's apartment the first time, I was investigating her. I already told you about Pisco, right?"

"That old man that tried ta kill that little Neechan?" Heiji asked, nodding his head. "Yeah, ya did. Ya said somethin' about the guy bein' killed by another Organization member before the police could get ta him."

"He was." Narrowing his eyes, Conan couldn't help but dwell for a moment on how close of a call that was. "But that's not the member I'm talking about. I've already told you about him anyways. Rather, it's a different member I'm worried about- it's likely that Pisco had a companion at that party, one who tried to help him."

"Oh?" Heiji asked, lifting his brows. "Well that's news ta me. Think yer member an' mine are one an' the same?"

"I'm willing to bet on it, even." Conan told him, a trace of a smile on his face. "I don't suppose Jodie-sensei told you anything that might be helpful on my end?"

"She did." Heiji said, nodding his head. "But in exchange fer that, I'm gonna have ta have ya agree ta somethin' fer me, Kudo."

Sensing the underlying nature of his words, Conan merely closed his eyes, letting out a small laugh. "She wants to meet me, doesn't she? Your keeper, that is."

" _Like I said_ , she's not my keeper!" Heiji grumbled, folding his arms in front of his chest, almost vaguely disappointed that he wasn't getting the reaction he expected here either. Granted, that reaction was _anger_ , so perhaps he was really better off without it. "But that's right. She wants ta speak with ya face ta face."

"Fine. If I can get some information from her, I'll agree to it." Conan said after a moment, opening his eyes. Having the FBI on his side wasn't a bad idea- there were things that they would be able to do that he wouldn't. "But of course, to her, I'll be nothing more than Edogawa Conan, a simple grade school student. You understand that right, Hattori?"

"Loud an' clear, Kudo. My lips are sealed."

* * *

"So? Did you learn anything from her?"

"Nothing more than what we already knew." Sliding into the booth across from Vermouth, Amuro simply arched a brow. "Are you sure it's alright for you to show your face in a place like this? It would be bad if someone happened to notice that someone as famous as you was here."

"It's quite alright." Vermouth said simply, stirring the ice in her glass with a straw. "I've been doing this sort of thing for years, after all. You don't have anything to worry about."

"If you say that much, I suppose I can't help but believe you." Amuro noted. "As you thought, she knows that it was you who infiltrated her previous laboratory. She seems to suspect you of leaking it's location to the FBI as well. Any truth to that accusation?"

"Of course not." Vermouth told him, closing her eyes. "I would never do something that reckless. If it went wrong, it could risk endangering the whole Organization. No matter what kind of issues that woman has with me, I'm not interested in playing in her little game."

"How like you." Amuro observed. "As you suspected, she didn't accept the offer. Most likely, they've already realized what we have, that it's highly likely the FBI is currently sheltering him- the one she labeled as Test Subject 001."

"As I thought." Leaning back against the booth, Vermouth picked up her iced coffee, pausing for a moment to take a sip. "Which raises the question as to why she hasn't taken any action to get him back as of yet. If the FBI were to enroll him in that Witness Protection Program of theirs, even we might have trouble tracking him down."

"Based on what I've read about this Hattori Heiji, I doubt he would let them." Amuro noted. "Perhaps she's waiting for something. Whatever that something is, it's most likely tied to her current actions."

"Most likely." Vermouth said, setting down her glass. "She might be prone to take reckless action when she's sure of something, but without evidence in hand, she's not the type to make a move. She must know something."

"If I recall, she was originally recruited by the member who was killed recently at Haido City Hotel." Amuro said, his gaze flickering towards her. "Pisco, I believe his codename was. Do you think it's possible that she might hold any resentment towards the rest of the Organization for that?"

"Hardly." Shaking her head, Vermouth merely raised a brow. "She's not the sort of woman to care about that sort of thing. I don't think she's opened her heart to anyone since that fire."

"The one that scarred her face?" Amuro asked. "Do you think she's aiming to work against the Organization? When I looked into her past contacts, it seemed as if she was in contact with a number of other small groups around the country, though I wasn't able to get any details about them."

"Who knows?" Shaking her head, Vermouth placed a finger on the tip of her straw, pushing it forward slightly. "If anything, I think that woman is most likely only using the Organization as a means to reach her own goal. _That person_ seems to believe that it falls in line with our own, so for the most part, he tends to leave her be."

"But there's always been the chance that once she achieves them, she might slip through our fingers." Vermouth told him. "To have one of ours come so close to the goal, and then disappear... it's no wonder even _that person_ is slightly anxious."

"I don't suppose you'll tell me what this goal is, even if I ask." Leveling his gaze with that of the blonde woman, Amuro's eyes narrowed. "Even though it might help with this investigation if I knew."

"I'm afraid not." Leaning forward, Vermouth rested her chin in one hand, a rather amused look on her face. "You're a rather important member, Bourbon, but you're not _that_ important yet. Or is there some reason why you're so impatient to prove yourself to _that person_?"

"No, hardly." Amuro said simply. "It's just more difficult to conduct an investigation when I don't have all of the information present."

"I'm sure you'll manage." Vermouth said. "You're a detective, are you not?"

"Even detectives aren't miracle workers, Vermouth." Amuro said. "But you can tell _that person_ that he needn't worry. I'll track her down, without fail."

It wasn't just the Organization that was interested in figuring out what it was that she was up to- but his other colleagues as well. As long as Hattori Heiji was still in the hands of the FBI, they couldn't get a chance to properly question him, without showing too much of their own hand in turn.

The fact that such an important lead had gone to the FBI... that he couldn't stand. This was Japan- and this was a matter that needed to be handled by the Japanese police, not by a bunch of outsiders. And to make things worse, _he_ , of all people, had to be involved in this investigation- the one person that he couldn't stand.

_Akai Shuichi_.


	23. Dangerous Information

"Eh? You found Hattori-kun, Kazuha-chan!?"

"No, no, not really!" Cutting in before Ran could get too far, Kazuha gave her something of an awkward smile. "I found a few clues as ta where he might be, that's all. I didn't actually get ta see him."

"Ah, I see." Slowly slinking back down into her seat, Ran gave her an apologetic smile. "It's just, given how hard you've been looking for him, I hoped that meant you'd been able to bring him home when you said that."

"No, it's fine." Shaking her head, Kazuha glanced over towards Kogoro, before turning back towards Ran. "Since I found some new information, I thought I would come an' talk ta the both of ya about it."

"And? Who is this young lady with you?" Kogoro finally spoke up, fixing his gaze on the young girl who had come here with Kazuha. Squinting a little, he could have sworn that he had seen her somewhere before- and it wasn't just the somewhat uncanny resemblance that she held to his own daughter that made him think that.

"Ah, this is Nakamori Aoko." Kazuha told him, peering over towards her. She'd barely said a word since they had arrived at the detective agency, and started a little as her name was mentioned. "Apparently, Heiji helped her out once before."

"Nakamori..." Kogoro mused, putting a hand to his chin in thought. "Ah, you don't mean _that_ Nakamori, do you? The daughter of that guy whose always chasing after that Kaitou KID person? I did hear that he had one, but..."

"Y-Yes, that's Aoko's father." Finally finding it in her to speak up, Aoko swallowed back her own nervousness. After all, right in front of her was none other than Mouri Ran- the Powered girl who was famous for saving a bunch of people! There was no way that she couldn't be nervous!

"Since she spotted an' talked with Heiji fer a bit, I thought I would ask her ta come along!" Kazuha interjected. "I've already heard the story from her, but I thought it would be fer the best if she told it ta ya directly, Uncle."

"I see. So there really was someone who spotted that Osakan brat recently." Kogoro noted, a slight frown on his face. For some reason, there seemed to be another reason that he couldn't get the name Nakamori Aoko out of his head, but he didn't quite know what it was just yet. "And? What do you mean by helped you out?"

"Aoko doesn't mind telling you, since you're trying to help Kazuha-chan, but there is one thing that she needs to make clear before that." Almost hesitating for a moment, Aoko drew in a long breath. She had made a promise, after all. "Can you please not tell the police about this matter?"

"The police?" Ran blinked, exchanging a glance with her father. "Why the police?"

"Ah, well that's..." Trailing off a little, Aoko wondered how best to phrase it. "Because he asked Aoko not to."

"He?" Ran asked. "You mean Hattori-kun?"

"Yes." Nodding her head, Aoko exchanged a glance between father and daughter. "You've heard about the recent kidnappings, right?"

"It's pretty hard to avoid news about them, if anything." Kogoro noted, his brows furrowing together. "Now that you bring them up though, if I recall... ah, I see! You're the girl! The one who slipped away from them!"

"Yes, that's Aoko." Aoko told him frankly. "The truth is, even though Aoko said she did it on her own, she actually had help. Otherwise she would have probably been captured for sure."

"An' that person was apparently none other than Heiji." Kazuha told them, folding her arms in front of her chest. "I don't really understand, but it seems like he's gone an' gotten himself involved in somethin' pretty dangerous. Well, I can't say that's anythin' new for that _idiot_ , but the scale this time is somethin' else."

"Couldn't it just be coincidence?" Ran asked, her gaze briefly darting over towards her father. For once, he appeared to be lost in thought- but she felt as if she could understand a little. Right now, it was only those who might develop abilities that were being targeted, but there was nothing saying that whoever was behind the kidnappings wouldn't eventually turn their attention towards those who already had listed abilities.

"Aoko doesn't know for sure." Aoko told them, shaking her head. "Actually, she ran into him once before this, but only briefly. At the time, he seemed to be in a bit of pain, so Aoko called out to him to see if he was alright. He brushed her off at the time though."

"In other words, he's been spotted right here in Tokyo twice. Once not even that long after I came ta see ya fer the first time." Kazuha told them. "An' even more recently, a mutual classmate of ours who went ta see the recent Kid heist told me that she spotted him in that area."

"Tokyo and Nagano, huh?" Kogoro mused. "Forgive me, but from the sound of it, don't you think it would be for the best to involve the police at this point? If what Kazuha-chan is saying is true, then it's possible that he might be in some kind of danger right now, this Hattori Heiji."

"About that... I don't know." Kazuha said, shaking her head. "It's true that Heiji can be stubborn, but askin' not ta tell the police that he helped out isn't really like him. I can't help but think that he must have some kinda reason fer it."

"You have a point there." Kogoro admitted. "So? Was there anything else you noticed, miss?"

"Just that he seemed to be trying to hide his face. He wore a hood, both times." Aoko noted, mimicking the motion of putting one up. "At the time, he told us that he was running away from home, and gave us both a fake last name. Ah, he also answered a phone call during that time as well, but Aoko really didn't catch anything that he was talking about."

"A phone call?" Ran asked. "I thought you said he left his phone at home, Kazuha-chan."

"He did." Kazuha nodded. "That's why he must have gotten another one from somewhere else."

"In that case, there's a chance that he might have some kind of associate." Kogoro mused. What had started as a simple missing persons case was starting to look less and less like one, he couldn't help but note. "For someone who is probably living on limited funds, something like a cellphone, even a cheap prepaid one, wouldn't be that easy to obtain."

"You said _us_ , Aoko-chan?" Ran asked. "Was there someone else with you at the time?"

"Ah, just Aoko's childhood friend." Aoko told them, giving them a small smile. "Kuroba Kaito. He met up with us by chance at the time, that's all."

"There's one other thing, though." Kazuha told them. "Apparently, not long after, a shady guy came around ta ask about Hattori-kun."

"A shady guy?" Ran asked. "What kind of shady guy?"

"Aoko doesn't really know. He introduced himself as a detective, but... Kaito really didn't seem to like him." Shaking her head, Aoko frowned. "He had a photo of Hattori-kun, and asked if he had helped Aoko back then. He didn't ask about him by name, though. Since Aoko didn't even tell the police that information, she can't help but wonder where it was that he got it from."

"Did he by any chance give you a name, this detective?" Kogoro asked.

"Yes, he did." Nodding her head, Aoko put a finger to her chin in thought. "Aoko thinks it was... Amuro Tooru, he said."

At the mutual silence that fell between both father and daughter alike, and the way that they exchanged glances, she couldn't help but wonder if it had been something that she had said. "Um, is there a chance that the two of you...?"

"We do." Sensing what she wanted to ask, Ran nodded her head. "We know one. He actually works downstairs in Cafe Poirot, part time. Now that you mention it, he did say something about being a detective as well..."

"But why would he be lookin' into Heiji?" Kazuha asked, once more feeling something clench in her chest. The more she found out, the more it sounded as if Heiji had really gone and gotten himself involved in something dangerous- and she couldn't stand the thought of that.

"Well," rising to his feet, Kogoro glanced down at the girls, "...why don't we just go and ask him that ourselves?"

* * *

"Mouri-san, what a surprise. Isn't it a bit early for lunch?"

If one asked, he would confess that he was a bit surprised to see Mouri Kogoro and his daughter in the company of none other than Nakamori Aoko, a development that was most unexpected. From what he had gathered, the so-called Sleeping Kogoro's actual skill was nothing close to what his reputation would otherwise indicate, so if he had to be quite honest, he hadn't really expected his investigation into the missing Hattori Heiji to advance quite to such a point. Clearly, something must have happened while he had been away.

That said, it was hardly nothing that he couldn't handle.

"Ah, it's nothing much, Amuro-kun. It's just that one of my clients seems to be under the impression that you're connected with a case I've been requested to help her with." Kogoro noted. "Well? Is this the detective who asked you questions?"

"Yes, that's him." She'd nearly blurted it out the moment she saw him, but kept her exclamation contained upon realizing that there were other customers in the store. She didn't want to be _rude_ , after all- that was more of Kaito's thing than hers. "Aoko remembers his face very well."

"Well, well, if you aren't Nakamori-san." Amuro remarked, his practiced, polite smile not so much as wavering. "How unexpected to see you here. You say that you think I might be connected to some kind of case, Mouri-san? If that's true, then I would be more than willing to do anything I can to assist you, as a fellow detective."

"I heard that ya were askin' questions about Heiji." The girl had not given her name, but Amuro recognized her rather quickly. Since he seemed to be connected with what it was that Absinthe was currently up to, he had naturally investigated those around Hattori Heiji. As he would expect, his childhood friend was eying him with no small degree of suspicion- he would have to see what he could do about that.

"Heiji?" Amuro blinked, glancing between her and Kogoro, before a look of understanding crossed his face. "Ah, you must mean the boy from the photograph, the one I showed Nakamori-san. I actually was not aware of his name until just now, so I must thank you for providing me with that information, miss...?"

"Kazuha." Kazuha said, a tight frown on her face. "Toyama Kazuha. An' why were ya lookin' fer him if ya didn't even know his name?"

"Now, now, Kazuha-chan, I'm sure Amuro-kun has good reasons." Kogoro quickly said. It almost seemed as if she half intended to start a fight right here and now if she didn't get the answer that she wanted. "Isn't that right?"

"But of course." Amuro said, nodding his head. "I was asked by a client to look into the matter. At the time, all he gave me was a photograph to go off of, and not a very good one at that."

"Then, how did that lead you to Aoko?" Aoko asked.

"An who was this _client_ of yers anyways?" Kazuha butted in, locking eyes with Amuro.

"One at a time, please." Amuro told them, taking a slight step back, doing his best to look somewhat intimidated by the ponytailed girl. He of course, was not. "To answer Nakamori-san's question first, I happened to be looking into the matter of the recent mass kidnappings, due to my own interest in the matter, and came across your account from a friend that I have who works with the police."

"When I began to look into the matter a bit more, I realized that the young man one of the witness accounts claimed that you had been seen with seemed to match the description of the young man that I'd been told to investigate." Amuro explained, carefully letting the practiced lie slip through his lips. The one that he needed to convince the most, of course, was Toyama Kazuha- he'd rather not have to abandon his post here, not just yet.

There were other matters that he wanted to look into, after all, and this was the perfect place from which to do so.

"I thought there was a chance that there might be a connection, so I went ahead and decided to ask you about it, Nakamori-san." Amuro told her. "At the time, you claimed that you didn't know anything about him, but if you'll pardon me, it seems as if that's not quite true after all."

"Ah, well that's..." Aoko began, trailing off a little.

"Ya _still_ haven't answered my question, ya know." Kazuha interjected, all but planting herself in front of Aoko. "So? Who's this client of yers? Nobody I know hired ya, that's fer sure."

"I'm a bit curious about that myself, Amuro-kun." Kogoro noted.

"I'm afraid I can't say that." Amuro said, shaking his head. "I have a requirement to keep my client's identity a secret. As a fellow detective, I'm sure you understand that, Mouri-san."

"Sounds like a pretty shady excuse ta me." Kazuha noted, folding her arms in front of her chest.

A stubborn one, this one was, Amuro mentally noted. Considering that this was a matter in which the Organization was involved, it was not a trait that would serve her well. That said, even _they_ might have a bit of trouble with that pesky ability of hers- teleportation, if what he had read was correct.

"I'm afraid it is what it is." Amuro told her, giving her something of a helpless expression. "For what it's worth though, I'd been considering turning down their request for awhile now. As you say, there's something about it that doesn't quite sit right with me."

"If that's the case, ya can tell us about the client, can't ya?" Kazuha pointed out. "Ya wouldn't have any right ta protect 'em if yer not workin' fer 'em anymore, right?"

"No, I'm afraid it doesn't work that way." Amuro told her. "And even if it did, I'm afraid there's really not that much to tell. All communications with the client have been online, I've never actually met them in person. Part of the reason I've been considering turning them down, actually."

"Online?" Kogoro asked, skepticism clear in his voice. "Yeah, I'd turn down that shady job if I were you, and in a hurry too. Nothing good ever comes from that sort of thing. That said, finding this kid is my current job, so if you know anything that could help bring him home, I'd like to hear it."

"I'm afraid at this point what you know is what I know, Mouri-san, and a fair bit more than that, most likely." Amuro told him. "I haven't been able to find many leads on him thus far."

"Is that true?" Kazuha asked, skepticism clear in her voice.

"I can promise you it's the truth." Amuro told her, deciding now would be best to deftly change the topic a bit. "Speaking of missing people, is Conan-kun not here today? Your daughter doesn't seem to be around either, Mouri-san."

"Ran left to go shopping. Said something about wanting to treat those two over there." Kogoro noted, jerking his head back in Aoko and Kazuha's direction. "As for the brat, I think he's over at the house of that Professor friend of his. He seems to be into some game he made, or something like that. I guess he's still a kid, in the end."

"So it would seem." Amuro noted. This wouldn't have gone of nearly as smoothly were Conan around, for which he couldn't help but be grateful for. That said, it would seem that he hadn't done that much to assuage Kazuha's suspicions of him- it would seem that she wasn't the kind to be easily tricked by pretty words.

"But if there's anything that I can do to assist you, Mouri-san, my earlier offer still very much stands." Amuro told him, placing a hand over his heart. "Working together with the famous Mouri Kogoro would be quite the learning experience for a novice detective such as myself."

"Well," coughing into his hand, as if to cover up just how much the praise had affected him, Kogoro merely averted his eyes. "...we'll have to see about that."

* * *

"Oh, Conan-kun, you came back just in time for lunch!"

He'd suspected that they had guests judging from the presence of extra shoes in the entryway. One pair of shoes he recognized as belonging to Kazuha, but the owner of the other had been a total mystery to him- at the very least, until he had entered the living room to see who it was for himself. He didn't recognize her right away- though her striking resemblance to Ran wasn't something that he entirely missed.

It was only when she introduced herself, that things clicked into place. He'd heard about her once before from Heiji- the girl that he had helped escape Absinthe's clutches. It had mostly been good timing on his part- if he had gotten the list of names any later from Ai, she probably would have been among the kidnapped victims herself now. Perhaps it went even earlier than that- if she'd never called out to him before, he never would have known who she was, and never would have cause to go looking for her after seeing her name on the list.

"It's nice to meet you, Aoko-neechan!" Conan told her, a bright smile on his face. "I'm Edogawa Conan!"

"Yeah, Aoko knows." Aoko told him, nodding her head. "Her father has mentioned you once or twice before, Conan-kun. He says you help him out from time to time."

"I'm just doing what Uncle Jirokichi asks me to do! It's fun!" Conan told her, taking a seat at the table. He was curious as to what she was doing here, but he didn't want to seem like he was digging too obviously for information. He had heard from Heiji that she and Kazuha had connected with each other back in Nagano, so it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise to find her here, not really.

"Well, _I_ don't really know about chasing after that thief myself." Ran noted, taking a seat next to Conan, having placed the last tray of food on the table. "He posed as me once before, so I'm not that fond of him."

"By that thief, do ya mean Kaitou Kid?" Kazuha asked. "I got a chance ta see his heist the other day, with Aoko-chan. It was pretty interesting, but maybe a bit too hectic fer my tastes. Are ya really sayin' that he posed as ya once though, Ran-chan?"

"Yeah." Ran told her, nodding her head. "As dad too, once before. Ah, but that wasn't actually for a heist."

"Is it Kid that brought you here, Aoko-neechan?" Conan piped up, deciding to ferret for information before the conversation strayed to the point where he wouldn't be able to. "Your father is Inspector Nakamori, right? I wouldn't think he would want to ask Uncle for help, given his pride."

"No, it's not about Kid." Aoko said, shaking her head. "Aoko was helping with an investigation."

"Since Kazuha-neechan's here, is it the one about Heiji-niichan?" Conan ventured. "Did you find a lead?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that." Kazuha said, before letting out a long sigh. "But it's not like I found the person himself yet, so somehow, I can't really be all that happy about it. I probably just missed him, too!"

"Now, now, I'm sure you'll find him soon, Kazuha-chan." Ran told her, a reassuring smile on her face. In truth, she knew that she was still worried about what she had heard from Amuro, of which she'd learned a secondhand account of from her. To think that there was someone asking Heiji to be investigated... she could understand the uneasy feeling in her heart. "If he really is somewhere in Tokyo, that will make him easier to find."

If Shinichi were here, they might have already found him. But to think that they had both vanished within a month of each other... honestly, she couldn't help but wonder if there was somehow a connection between their two disappearance. If only Heiji would show his face on occasion as Shinichi did, or at least call, perhaps Kazuha wouldn't be this worried, but...

"Yer right." Kazuha admitted, picking up one of the sandwiches that Ran had made, taking a bite out of it. "There's even a chance that he might approach ya again, Aoko-chan. I'm countin' on ya if that happens!"

"Eh, so Aoko-neechan has seen him?" Conan asked, doing his best to look surprised by what he already knew. "That's great news, isn't it? I'm sure Uncle will find him in no time, then!"

"I can only hope so." Given that they were speaking of Ran's father here, she wanted to sound more convinced, but after everything that she had learned... she couldn't help but worry. "It seems like he's involved himself in a lot of trouble, though."

"Trouble?" Conan asked. "What kind of trouble?"

"He helped Aoko!" Aoko spoke up. "Saved her from being kidnapped."

"Kidnapped?" Conan asked, hoping he seemed surprised enough. The fact that they knew that much already... he didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could do about it. They were skirting too close for comfort, and once more reminded him how important it was to bring this ordeal to a close as quickly as possible. "You don't mean like those-!"

"Yeah, exactly like that!" Aoko told him, nodding her head. "Scary, right?"

"Well, let's not discuss such scary things right now." Ran spoke up, her hand straying atop Conan's head. Anyone else, he would shake off, but with her, he made no move to do so. "There's lunch to eat, after all. Are you going to be eating dinner with us tonight, Conan-kun? I know that lately you've been really engaged in that game the Professor made, but you should try and spend some time away from it too."

"Don't worry, I know!" Conan told her. That excuse was obviously starting to wear thin, he would have to think of a new one. "And I should be eating here."

More than likely, it would be tomorrow that he met with Jodie. After their conversation, Heiji had returned to her apartment, to hash things out with her, and would contact him later with the exact time and meeting place. He had to admit, he was more than a little antsy about it, eager to learn anything that she might know. He wanted to know more about her- about this Vermouth, who he had seen once before at the hotel where Pisco had been killed.

And probably once before that, as well, if his running theory was correct.

He could only hope that it wasn't.

* * *

Usually, she wasn't this careless about where she teleported. She'd already done it once before this month, teleporting right in front of someone- it was a sign of how distracted she was that she'd done it a second time. Letting out a yelp as she landed on her feet, Kazuha quickly spun on her heel, offering both a hand and an apology alike to the person that she had caused to stumble.

"I'm sorry!" Holding out her hand to him, Kazuha could only hope that he wasn't going to be mad. At the very least, he looked to be around her age. "I wasn't paying attention ta where I was goin'!"

"Well, to be fair, I wasn't expecting someone to appear out of thin air either." Giving her an easy grin, the young man that she had knocked over took her hand, using it to haul himself back up onto his feet, only then getting a good look at the girl. Inwardly, he couldn't help but flinch, but he managed to do a good enough job at masking it on the outside. "Toyama-san?"

"Ah, Kuroba-kun!" Kazuha exclaimed, recognizing the young man. It had only been about a day or two since she'd last seen him, after all, even if she hadn't spoken much with him. "What are ya doin' in Osaka? I didn't get the wrong place, did I?"

"No, you're fine." Kaito told her, shaking his head. Letting go of her hand, he brushed the dirt off his pants. Running into someone he knew, even a little, wasn't the ideal situation, but he could work with this. "But does that happen, getting the wrong place?"

"Sometimes." Kazuha admitted. "Usually if I get distracted."

"Is that how it works?" Kaito asked, giving her a quick smile. "Well, as for what I'm doing in Osaka, the answer's pretty simple. My mom asked me to pick her up a special cake from a store here, though frankly, I don't know why she went through all the trouble ordering one all the way from here, or why she didn't ask for delivery."

"Sounds like trouble." Kazuha remarked. "Can ya find it fine? The cake shop? Not ta brag, but I know Osaka pretty much like the back of my hand!"

"I'll manage, don't worry." Kaito quickly told her. Really, he just wanted to lose her as quickly as possible, so he could get back to his real objective- checking out the museum where his upcoming target was being displayed. "Thanks for the offer though. How are things going with your search?"

"Not much different from when we saw each other last." Kazuha told him. She still didn't quite like some of the implications of what he'd said before, but for the moment, she wasn't really looking for a fight. "But is it fine fer ya ta be all the way here in Osaka? What about Aoko-chan?"

"The police are watching her, so it should be fine." Kaito told her. "Well, I'll be heading back to Tokyo as soon as I pick up the cake, so hopefully I shouldn't be gone for too long."

"Good." Nodding her head, Kazuha gave him a pat on the shoulder. She was actually a bit grateful that he didn't need her to show him the way- she wanted to get over to police headquarters as soon as possible, so she could tell both her father and Heizo alike what she had learned today. She'd have teleported straight into the police station, but experience had taught her that wasn't always the wisest of choices. Better to just walk in like a normal person, than risk startling a bunch of police officers. "Sorry fer knockin' ya over, once again. Doesn't usually happen."

"Think nothing of it." Kaito said simply, shaking his head. Good, it seemed as if he were going to get away from her fairly easily. "Well then, maybe I'll see you again, Toyama-san. Good luck with your search!"

"Thanks!" Kazuha told him. "Good luck with yer cake!"

"Oh, don't worry!" Unable to help himself, Kaito grinned from ear to ear. "I don't think it's something I'll need much luck with."

* * *

He knew his daughter well enough to know when she had something important to say, and he'd come to know her well enough to know when that something important was in regards to Heiji. He'd hardly forgotten what he had been told by Heizo, and was just grateful that he managed to intercept her before she had so much of a chance to speak to anyone else.

Whatever it was she had come to tell him, it was best that she do it in a place where there were no ears to overhear. In which case, Heizo's office would be the best location on short notice- he'd apparently already checked it out for any trace of bugs, and had found none. Perhaps his concerns about there being some kind of spy within the police department were unfounded, or perhaps whatever spy they had was simply just that cautious.

Or knew that they didn't need them in order to glean whatever information that they needed. Now that _was_ a thought that made him nearly shudder.

"Dad! Just when I wanted ta see ya!" Kazuha called out, waving a hand towards him. He'd spotted her first, which saved her the trouble of asking around for him. Hopefully Heiji's father was in too, at the moment- although speaking of him, he'd been acting just a bit odd lately, ever since he had gotten back from that business trip he'd been on. It was as if there was something on his mind, something that he wouldn't speak of.

It would have bothered her more, were Heiji's father not always difficult to read. Really, in that regard, the two of them really were complete opposites.

If anything bothered her, it was the vaguely troubled expression her father had briefly sported when he had returned home the previous day. When she had called out to him, he had acted as if nothing was wrong, but she knew what she had seen- and what she saw now, ever so briefly flashing through his eyes.

"Was there something you needed, Kazuha?" Ginshiro asked, making sure that he kept his voice low- though not low enough to arouse his daughter's suspicions. "I thought you were going to Tokyo today, to visit your friend there."

"I did. I just got back." Kazuha told him. "Actually, dad, there's somethin' I need ta tell ya about that. Uncle Heizo too, if he's in."

So it seemed as if it really were related to Heiji, just as he had suspected. Giving his daughter a smile, Ginshiro nodded his head. "That can be arranged. I don't think he's all that busy at this exact moment, so we can chat in his office."

"That's fine with me!" Nodding her head, Kazuha couldn't help but let her gaze trail over the office. For some reason, she got the strange feeling that someone was watching her, but she didn't notice anyone who was actually paying any attention to her. Maybe it was just her imagination?

It wasn't as if there would be any suspicious characters working for her father, after all. She'd been around most of these officers ever since she was a little girl- everyone working here were good people.

* * *

"And?" Making sure the door was firmly shut behind him before he spoke up, Ginshiro turned to face his old friend. "What are your thoughts on what Kazuha had to tell us, Heizo?"

"Concerning, to say the least." Though he'd kept his tone rather neutral while speaking with Kazuha, now that she was gone, he allowed it to take on a more grim tone. "If what she says is true, and there's someone out there who is investigating my son, then that's not information that puts me at all at ease."

"Can't say that I blame you." Ginshiro noted, taking a seat. "Have you gotten any leads about who it is that Heiji's so afraid of? Chances are, they might be connected."

"I wonder about that." Heizo noted, leaning back in his chair. "If what your daughter said is true, then whoever it was that asked for an investigation into Heiji didn't even seem to know his name. I'm under the impression that whoever it is that Heiji's afraid of is likely someone that he knows."

"Provided this Amuro Tooru character is telling the truth." Ginshiro noted.

"Yes, there is that." Heizo said. "We'll have to look into him a bit ourselves. Carefully though. The last thing we want to do is to alert anyone of our activates, least it could put that fool son of mine in danger."

Immortal or not, seeing Heiji put in harm's way was not an idea that he liked. Not being able to die didn't mean that he couldn't feel the pain, and there was no decent father out there that wanted to see their son suffer.

"Understood." Ginshiro said, nodding his head. "I may need a little help with this though, Heizo. Tokyo is rather far out of our jurisdiction, and if I leave my post, it may only rouse suspicion, if what you say about a spy in our midst is true."

"A fair point." Heizo noted, mulling it over for a few moments. With just the two of them, what they could do was rather limited- though it was a risk, they needed to include more people in this investigation. "Consult Otaki-han on the matter, but do it quietly, Toyama. Make sure to impress upon him that this isn't something we should talk about freely though, not even to fellow members of the police."

"Will do." Sensing that as his cue, Ginshiro rose to his feet. "Should I keep quiet as to why?"

"For now, yes." Heizo told him. "This may be even more of a dangerous situation than we first thought, Toyama. It would be wise if you impressed upon your daughter a certain degree of caution, if you cannot talk her out of looking into the matter herself."

"Doubtful." Ginshiro noted. "I'll have a word with her at home, though. Do what I can. If it's as dangerous as you say, the chances that Kazuha will take it lying down are rather slim. She gets that from her mother, really."

"Mm." Heizo's rather non-committal response echoed how lost in thought he was at the moment, taking some time to sort them out. "Do take care yourself, Toyama. At this point, I can't be too certain who or what it is that we're dealing with here."

"Your son certainly does have a knack for finding himself trouble though, I'll say that much." Ginshiro said. "Do you have any idea as to why someone might be interested in him this much, Heizo?"

At the long silence his question earned him, he could tell that he'd asked a rather sensitive question. Just as he was about to speak up again, to tell him that it was alright not to discuss the matter right at this second, Heizo finally spoke up, cutting him off. "I'm afraid that's not something I can talk about with full freedom, Toyama, especially not here."

It wasn't as if he didn't trust him- but if Heiji's secret was to be spoken of, it should be done with his permission. The less people who knew of his ability, the better, since the more he thought on it, the more likely it became that it was at the root of all of this trouble. Though Shizuka had claimed that she had done something to have it suppressed all these years, though she'd not yet given him the full details, it would seem as if whatever he had been given, had worn off.

"I understand, Heizo." Giving him a curt nod of his head, Ginshiro headed for the door. "I'll find a private moment to speak with Otaki about the matter. But what will you do?"

"Return to work." Heizo said simply. "The more obvious moves I make in regards to him, the more danger I could be putting him in. I've already pushed my luck quite a bit, with the recent trip."

And perhaps not only him, Heizo sensed. For if there was something that Heiji was truly afraid of, it was not finding himself in danger- but rather, seeing those that he cared for in it. When it came to danger he was facing himself, he was the type to confront it head on- but when it came to others...

They would have to be very cautious indeed. One wrong move, and things could very well prove to be disastrous.


	24. Green Fairy

For an infamous cursed jewel, the rumored Green Fairy didn't actually look like much.

To be sure, it was quite the gem, only just a little bit smaller than his fist. With or without the challenge, it would have probably caught his eye sooner or later- it certainly fit the profile of what he was looking for. Still, when he'd read up on it, he'd gotten the impression that it would be somewhat different than this, more imposing somehow. As it was, it looked no different than any other gem that he had stolen up until this point.

Not that he'd never been much of one to believe in curses in the first place. More than any potential curse, what worried him more were the intentions of the person who had gone to such lengths to challenge him to steal it. Putting the matter of that grouchy old man aside, past experience dictated that this could be a rather troublesome matter.

But well... he couldn't say that it hadn't caught his interest. He didn't know why or for what reason this person, whoever they were, wanted him to steal this gem, but be it public or private, Kaitou Kid had never been much of one to back down from a challenge. Still, he was going to be have to be a bit careful this time- his flashier tricks might be eye catching, but in a situation like this, those that he already knew by heart were the most useful.

Not to mention he'd once again be far from his usual turf. Not only did he need to pour over the maps of the museum itself, but he'd also need to go over maps of the surrounding area. He didn't know the first thing about Osaka, except for the fact that it was apparently the home base of that Hattori Heiji guy.

He'd be lying if he didn't say that the timing caught his interest a little, but at the moment, he saw no reason to think that they were connected. Hattori Heiji might live in Osaka, but so did a lot of other people- it was too early to say that this had any connection to the rather enigmatic high school detective just yet.

If it did... well, he'd leave figuring that part out to Hakuba. That was a detective's job, not a thief's.

To be frank though, he hoped that it didn't. Whatever that guy was running from, Kaito got the feeling that he wanted no part in it. If his intuition was right, they'd already brushed too close to it already- it was nothing more than good luck that Aoko hadn't been taken that day. If he hadn't been around when he had...

He'd be in no condition to hold _any_ heists right now, challenge or not. Maybe it was best to leave it at that.

Taking one last long look at the supposedly cursed emerald, in spite of everything, Kaito found himself almost smirking. Since he had decided to do this, he might as well put his all into it- and that started with figuring out just when and where to leave his warning notice. As for the time of the heist itself... well, he already had a pretty good idea in mind.

And as for the actual heist... looking at the layout of the place, he was already starting to get a few ideas.

* * *

"Well?" Barely glancing up as she heard the door open and close behind her, Jodie reached for the salt on the counter. "Did _Cool Kid_ agree to come to meet me?"

"Yeah, more or less." Quirking a brow, Heiji made his way into the kitchen, taking a quick whiff of what it was that she was cooking. Need it or not, he still found his stomach growling, reminding him that he hadn't actually eaten anything since that morning. "I told him I'd arrange a time with ya first, an' then contact him about it again."

"Fair enough." Jodie noted, frowning a little, before reaching for a ladle, dipping it into the pot. "How's this for you, Hattori-kun?"

Taking a quick sip, Heiji couldn't help but make a slight face. "A bit too much salt."

"Really?" Jodie blinked, taking a sip of the soup herself, working it in her mouth a bit. "If you ask me, it's not enough."

"Honestly, between these Tokyo natives an' ya Americans, I can't tell which of ya needs ta tone down on the salt more." Heiji remarked, making a face. "I'm yer guest, right? Ya can live with a little less salt in yer diet, Jodie-han."

"Personally I think you're just weak to it." Jodie noted, before heaving a slight sigh, setting aside the ladle. "But alright, if you insist, I'll leave it as is. More importantly, you wanted to arrange a time for a meeting, correct?"

"That's what I came here fer!" Heiji told her, before pausing, doubling back on his words. "Or well, I actually came here because I kind of live here, but ya know what I mean." There was another pause then, his expression quickly changing once more, an almost suspicious one taking it's place. "That _Akai_ guy isn't goin' ta be comin', is he?"

"No, I hadn't planned on telling him about it just yet." Jodie said, shaking her head. "He seems to be busy with his own investigation at the moment, so it's not as if I could contact him now anyways."

"Really?" Heiji asked, blinking a little. As grateful as he was that the guy wasn't going to be there- he really didn't care for him- he couldn't help but be a little curious about what it was that he was looking into. "Does he do that sort of thing often? Wander off on his own an' look into things without really talkin' about it?"

"More often than I care for." Jodie noted with a slight sigh. "But he does seem to contact James regularly, so it's not as if he's completely out of contact. Why?"

"Ah, no, I just thought it might be somethin' important." Heiji told her, a hand straying behind his neck, idly rubbing it. "Yanno, with everythin' that's been goin' on lately. Seein' as he's part of the FBI, thought he might be lookin' into somethin' I might be interested in."

"I see." Jodie said, nodding her head. "Well, if he is, I'll be sure to let you know, Hattori-kun. I'm sure you're eager to be able to go back to your family once all of this is over."

"Yeah, ya could say that." Hoping his smile felt real enough, Heiji's tucked his hands into his pockets, deciding to change the subject. "More importantly, the time, Jodie-han, the time. Conan-kun says he's good with anythin' that doesn't clash with school. I figure the same is true fer ya, seein' yer cover job an' all."

"That's true." Jodie mused, putting a hand to her chin in thought. "The sooner the better, I suppose. How about tomorrow afternoon, after school lets out? Of course, I'll be careful not to draw _their_ attention."

"Ya mean that Vermouth person?" Heiji asked. He almost wanted to tell Jodie about what it was that Kudo had told him- but since he didn't yet know exactly how much he wanted to let her in on, he instead held his tongue. "Yeah, that should work. I'll contact him an' let him know."

"So you let him have your cellphone number, then?" Jodie asked. "I'm sure you told him not to save it to his phone."

"Of course." Heiji said, nodding his head. "That kid might be a kid, but he's no idiot. Ya said that much yerself even."

"I know." Jodie said, faintly smiling as she turned on her heel, turning off the burner. "Still a child is a child, Hattori-kun. No matter how smart he is, you should be careful about what you tell him."

"An' show him, right?" Heiji asked, more or less catching her drift. "Ya don't have ta worry about that. I don't plan on gettin' that badly hurt again, an' least of all ta show that kind of sight ta someone else, not if I can help it. I'm amazed that ya can deal with me normally, after seein' that kind of thing."

"Of course I can." Jodie said, slipping on her oven mitts. "At the end of the day, ability or not, you're still just a normal teenager. I'm not about to forget something like that, you don't have to worry."

There was a slight pause there, as if he couldn't format a response to that without giving too much away of what it was that he didn't want to discuss. What he broke it with in the end, however, was-

"Ya still shot me though."

"And once again, I said I was sorry."

* * *

"Eh? Someone's investigating Hei-chan?"

Quite honestly, Ginshiro was just grateful that he had the foresight to take Otaki out to where it was highly unlikely anyone would be able to hear them- for as much as he quickly moved to shush himself after his outburst, it didn't change the fact that he had made it. Heaving a sight sigh, the police inspector merely put aside his subordinate's brief moment of carelessness, in order to get back to the main topic at hand. It was an important one, after all.

Otaki Gorou was a man both he and Heizo trusted- and also the officer that Heiji was on the best terms with. While from the sound of it, that would almost make him suspect in this scenario, the fact that Heizo had determined that trusting him as a confident would be wise had already put aside any doubt that Ginshiro himself might have had of the man. Whoever it was in the department that Heiji didn't trust, and was outright _afraid_ of, it wasn't him.

"Are you sure, Toyama-han?" Otaki asked, dropping his voice several degrees, narrowing his eyes. "I know that he's been missing for some time now but..."

"We're certain." Ginshiro said, nodding his head. "My daughter confirmed it herself. According to this _Amuro Tooru_ fellow, he was asked by someone online to investigate Heizo's son, though it doesn't seem as if he was given that much information. Just a photograph to go off of, _if_ his claim is true."

"If it's true, then this is a very serious matter." Otaki mused, his brows knitting together. "It was serious enough when Hei-chan disappeared, but to think that things could have turned out this way... does the head know about it?"

"He does." Ginshiro said. "And this is a story that's going to stay between the three of us, Otaki. It seems that Heizo suspects that there's someone within the department that has something to do with Heiji-kun's disappearance. Until we know who that is, we need to move on this very quietly."

Clearly alarmed at this statement, Otaki nonetheless seemed to take it to heart, giving his superior a grave nod of his head. "I understand. I won't breathe a word of it. So? You want me to look into this detective for you, to make sure he's really telling the truth?"

"Yeah." Ginshiro said. "Make sure that the person himself doesn't notice. From the sound of it, it seems as if Heiji-kun has gotten himself involved with the recent kidnappings somehow. This a matter that we need to treat with the utmost delicacy."

"Understood." With a curt nod of his head, Otaki took a moment to take in all the information that he had been given. He always knew that Heiji had a knack for getting into trouble- but this was beyond anything that he could have imagined. "What about your daughter?"

"I'll deal with my daughter myself." Ginshiro told him. "Don't worry about her. I'm not about to let her walk into a dangerous situation."

In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that Heiji most likely wouldn't either. That if she were to find herself in danger, he might resurface- be it for better or for worse, he couldn't say. All he knew was that it was highly likely that Kazuha was a factor in why he had chosen to vanish without a word to begin with- as was probably everyone else that he had left behind.

What exactly was it that he had gotten himself involved in? He knew full well that there were still things that Heizo wasn't telling him, and while had promised him full disclosure later... Ginshiro couldn't help but worry. With a vital part of the story missing, could he really work at full capacity?

At any rate, he could only do the task that was before him right now- and that was checking into this detective character. And quietly, very quietly, try and determine who it was that Heiji was so afraid of, and _why_.

Still...

The faster that the truth came to light, the more at ease he would be. He hadn't seen that kind of expression on Heizo's face in ages. While it was natural that any father would be worried about their child, especially one that had been missing for six months already, he hadn't missed the trace of fear in the man's expression. Anyone else would have likely missed it, but after knowing him as he did for so many years, it became far easier to understand what was on the usually stoic man's mind.

It wasn't just Heiji who was afraid.

And that was the more worrisome development of all.

* * *

"Oh Kudo, ya got a sec?"

"Would I have answered the phone if I didn't?"

"Good point." All but brushing aside the surly tone that the shrunken detective had answered the phone with, Heiji glanced behind him, once more confirming that there was no one else on the roof to overhear his end of the conversation. "Anyways, I spoke with Jodie-han about the meetin'. How's tomorrow, after school work fer ya?"

"Yeah, that should be fine." Conan remarked. "I hope you didn't tell her too much about me."

"Don't worry, don't worry. I didn't say a thing!" Heiji was quick to reassure him, pressing his back against the door to the roof. "What kinda blabbermouth do ya take me fer, Kudo? Still, ya might want ta come up with some kind of reason as ta why a first grader is involved with _them_ in the first place."

"That's true." Conan admitted. "I'll think of something by tomorrow."

"Ya'd better. She's sharp, Jodie-han." Heiji told him. "Still, yer a lot better off dealin' with her than ya are with any of the others."

"The others?" Conan asked. "Have you met other agents aside from Jodie-sensei?"

"Well, I say that, but it's only just one. Aside from their boss, that is." At the mere memory of the guy, Heiji's nose crinkled in distaste, for a moment, brushing a bit too close to things that he didn't want to remember. "That _Akai Shuichi_ guy... it seems like Jodie-han likes him, but I don't care fer him one bit."

"Akai Shuichi?" Conan asked, frowning a little at the name. "Could he possibly be a dark haired man wearing a knit cap? With bags under his eyes?"

"Yeah, that's him." Heiji said, blinking a little. "What, ya've met him already?"

"Yeah, sort of. It was during a case." Conan told him. "I see, so he's with the FBI. For awhile, I thought that he might have been with the Organization."

There was a lingering pause there, and Heiji could almost hear the gears of his friend's brain working. Tilting his head, Heiji pushed himself up, standing up straight, wondering if he should butt in now or not. It was clear that from that piece of information, he'd been able to figure something out, but as to what it might be, Heiji couldn't even begin to make a guess.

Wandering over towards the edge of the roof, he peered down, switching the hand he held his phone with. "Ya think of somethin', Kudo?"

"Yeah, something." Conan said. "I'm not comfortable talking about it over the phone, though. I'll bring it up during tomorrow's meeting though."

"Fair enough." Heiji said, letting his gaze trail upwards, narrowing at the sight of the bright moon overhead. "Well then, I shouldn't keep ya up so late. Kids have bedtimes they gotta follow, right~?"

"Shut up." Grumbling at the teasing sound in his fellow detective's voice, Conan could only let out a sigh. "You make sure to get some sleep too, Hattori."

"I will, I will. What are ya, my mom?" Heiji asked, dimly aware that he had said something just like this today already. Honestly, what was with everyone and worrying about his sleep habits? It wasn't losing a little here and there was going to kill him, or anything like that.

Although perhaps dismissing it as just _a little_ was a bit generous on his part.

"Not your mom, but your friend." Conan said simply, almost regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth. Although they were over the phone, somehow, he could almost picture the grin that spread out on Heiji's face at his words. "So try and get some proper rest, idiot."

"Well, if it's fer the sake of my friend, I guess it can't be helped!" All but spinning around on his heel, Heiji couldn't help but grin. "I'll do my best an' sleep well tonight, though I can't make any promises!"

"Good." Nodding his head, Conan wondered if he was really telling the truth or not. "Then, I'll see you tomorrow, Hattori."

"Yeah, tomorrow." Hanging up the phone, Heiji let out a long sigh, feeling his smile fading almost as quickly as it had come. Erasing the call log had become habit at this point, something he could even with his eyes closed. Tucking his cellphone back away, he turned back on his heel, casting one long last look at the sky, and the full moon that was steadily becoming less so.

It was a lovely night, he supposed, but he couldn't really enjoy it.

"I'll try, at least."

* * *

"Are you done with your phone call, Conan-kun?"

"I am, Ran-neechan." Smiling up at her as he closed the door behind him, Conan faked letting out a loud yawn, hoping that it would keep her from asking too many questions about it. "By the way, I'm going to go over to play at the Professor's tomorrow afternoon, after school."

"Again?" Ran blinked, unable to help but frown. "You've been going over there an awful lot lately."

"Y-yeah." Nodding his head, Conan gave her the biggest smile that he could manage. Crap, it would seem that excuse was starting to wear thin- if this went on for much longer, he was going to have to think of another one. "The new game that he's making is really, _really_ interesting!"

"Is it?" Ran asked, briefly reaching down to pat his head. "Then, have fun. Make sure to call me if you're going to miss dinner though."

"I will!" Conan told her, trying and failing not to look too flustered at the attention he was getting from her. "I don't think it should take that long though, so I'll probably be home in time for dinner."

"Then, I'll be sure to prepare a portion for you." Ran told him. "By the way, Conan-kun, did you take any pictures on your trip with your mother? I'd like to see them if you did!"

For a moment, he felt his heart pounding in his chest at the question- before he realized that it was not being asked with a note of suspicion, but merely curiosity. Resisting the urge to let out a sigh of relief, Conan instead simply shook his head, giving her something of a remorseful smile. "No, we didn't. My mom's not really one for pictures. Sorry, Ran-neechan"

"I see." Though she sounded mildly disappointed, she seemed to accept the answer with ease. "It can't be helped then. It was so busy when you came back that I didn't have a chance to ask before."

"With Kazuha-neechan and everything?" Conan asked, nodding his head. "That was a real surprise about Amuro-niisan though, wasn't it? I never thought he would have been looking into Heiji-niichan like that."

"That's right." Ran said, nodding her head. "Kazuha-chan told me all about it once I got back home from shopping, but I hope he drops that creepy client. I could tell that she was worried about it, just hearing something like that. Why, if I heard that someone was secretly looking into Shinichi..."

Trailing off there, Ran shook her head, apparently deciding that this wasn't the best topic to discuss with a child. "No, it's nothing. It's getting a bit late though, Conan-kun. You should probably head on to bed."

"I was just planning on doing that." Conan told her. Even if she didn't say it out loud, he could already guess more or less what she was thinking- and it was enough to make his heart twist in a knot. No one was investigating _him_ at the moment- and he could only hope that it would remain that way.

With a member of the Organization just downstairs... he couldn't say how long it would last. If things really started to look dangerous for them, he would have to figure something out, but until then, he just needed to act in a way that wouldn't draw too much attention to himself.

But he couldn't worry Ran with any of that, or even let her know about it. To her, he was just simple Edogawa Conan, a rather smart first grade student that she was looking after. She didn't need to know anything more- it was safer for her that way. So instead, he kept the smile on his face, deeply internalizing all of his own worries.

"Goodnight, Ran-neechan."

* * *

"What is it, Toyama? It's a bit early to have a report, isn't it?"

Biting back a comment that it was a bit ironic to say it was too early when it was already rather late at night, Ginshiro instead shut the door behind him. "No, it's not about Heiji-kun's case. Division two just received notice of something they thought you should know about, Heizo."

"And you ended up being the messenger again?" Heizo asked, briefly glancing up towards his longtime friend, gaze falling on the card that he held in hand. "What's that?"

"It was just delivered a short while ago." Ginshiro told him, an almost amused expression on his face as he set down the card in front of Heizo, turning it around so that he could read it. "Seems that there's some people in this world who have almost impeccable timing."

Lifting a brow, Heizo cast his attention downwards. Even before reading the card's actual contents, the doodle at the bottom caught his eye, and in the back of his mind, he could already feel a headache starting to come on. Out of all the things that he needed to be dealing with right now, this, he thought, was not one of them.

On the other hand...

"Come to think of it Toyama, the previous one was in Nagano, was it not?" Heizo remarked. "Around the same time my son was spotted."

"Now that you mention it." Ginshiro said, thinking back on it. "Do you think it's just a coincidence? Heiji-kun never seemed to have much interest in him before, and I think if he was around during the time of the heist, Kazuha probably would have noticed him."

"According to Uehara-han, it would seem that Heiji was there for a different reason." Heizo told him, reading over the notice once more. "However, the timing of this strikes my interest. I'm sure division two is already preparing it's response to this, but advise them to be cautious nevertheless."

"Understood." Giving Heizo a curt nod of his head, Ginshiro accepted the notice back from him. "Do you think he'll show up again? Heiji-kun, that is."

"I don't know." Heizo said, shaking his head. "If it really was a coincidence, then it's unlikely that he will. Still it would be wise to have some friendly eyes on the heist itself, just in case."

"In that case, I'll make up an excuse to join the preparations." Ginshiro told him. "Still, that guy coming back to Osaka after all this time... the last time he was here, you and I had only just joined the force. It's been quite a long time since then."

"That's true." Heizo admitted, his brow furrowing. "It's hard to forget that night."

"That's when it happened after all." Ginshiro recalled, a slight frown on his face as he gauged Heizo's reaction. Something about it was troubling him- though considering the recent kidnappings, that in itself wasn't so out of place. "You and I had quite the view of it from where we were. It was quite something, but back then, I never could have imagined it would turn out the way it did."

"Nor did I." Heizo said. "At any rate, if that's all Toyama, you're dismissed. Let me know if anything turns up."

"Yes."

* * *

If he were more of a morning person, he would have probably caught it earlier, as Kogoro browsed the morning paper during breakfast. As it was, it was all he could do to make sure his chopsticks reached his mouth- it wasn't until after breakfast was eaten and done with that he tended to come around to fully waking up. When he went back to check later, just as he thought, there was an article about it in the paper, and reflecting back on it, the old man had even briefly commented about it.

But as it was, he didn't hear about it until he arrived at school.

"Hey, hey, did you hear?"

The sound of Ayumi's voice perked him up, taking note of the excitement in it. Unable to help but be a little curious, Conan blinked, shaking his head. "No, what is it, Ayumi-chan?"

"They said that Kid is going to appear again!" Ayumi informed him. "It was in the news this morning!"

"Heh, so soon?" Conan asked. "So? What's that guy trying to steal this time? I hope it's not another one of Jirokichi-san's challenges again."

"Ah, I heard about that!" Mitsuhiko chimed in, scooting his chair a bit closer. "If I recall, it's supposed to be an emerald this time!"

"Yeah. It has a really cute name too!" Ayumi said. "The Green Fairy, they said."

"The Green Fairy?" Conan blinked, frowning a little. For some reason, that name rung a bell for him, but he didn't think it was because he had ever heard of any emerald with that name before. "So? Where is this heist supposed to take place? Back to his usual stomping grounds in Tokyo after heading over to Nagano?"

"No." Mitsuhiko said, shaking his head. "Apparently it's going to happen in Osaka this time."

"Osaka?" Now that _did_ catch his attention. Still, it could have very well just been a coincidence, but caution warned him against accepting it as one at face value. Especially not with the way the name of the gem in question tugged at him. "That's a surprise. When?"

"Mmm, I think it was supposed to be this Sunday." Ayumi said, putting a finger to her chin in thought. "I might be wrong though."

"What, what? Are you thinking of going, Conan?" Genta chimed in, leaning in a bit too close for Conan's comfort. "In that case, invite us with you! It's not fair that you get to hog all the glory all the time! We all make up the Detective Boys, after all!"

"That's not-" Conan began, only to find himself cut off by the one who had been silent throughout all of this.

"I would advise against it." Ai's voice almost seemed a bit sharper than before, and the gaze that she leveled on them seemed to almost exclusively be directed at him. That too, was more than enough to catch his attention. "It's supposed to be cursed, that gemstone."

"Cursed?" Conan asked. "Don't tell me you actually believe in that kind of thing, Haibara."

"I don't." Ai said simply. "But it is true that numerous people in the past have died while in possession of that stone. It's clear at the very least that it brings nothing but bad luck."

"Even with such a cute name?" Ayumi asked.

"If anything, that name's perfect for it." Ai noted. "Though it's been proven false now, in the past, Green Fairy used to be a nickname for a certain kind of alcohol, said to bring ruin and disaster to those who drank it. It was even blamed for a homicide at one point."

"A certain kind of alcohol?" Conan asked, his brows furrowing. Now that she mentioned it, when he thought about it, that sounded correct, but which one was...

...wait. Wait a second. It couldn't possibly be...?

But if that was the case, was this _really_ a coincidence?

At any rate, he had to inform Heiji about this right away. He could only hope that guy wouldn't end up doing anything reckless because of it.

* * *

"Absinthe."

"What, so you already heard." Releasing a held breath, Conan felt his shoulders slump. "It could just be a coincidence, but given the timing..."

"It doesn't feel like one?" Heiji finished for him. "Yer right about that. I don't know what it is that she could want with Kaitou Kid, but whatever it is, it can't be good."

"It might not necessarily be Kaitou Kid." Conan said. "The Inspector in charge of Kid cases is the father of the girl who almost got kidnapped, right? Nakamori Aoko, if I recall."

That's right though, he should probably mention to Heiji that both Aoko and Kazuha alike had been to the Mouri Detective Agency recently. It could wait though, the matter at hand being more pressing.

"That's right." Heiji said. "If I recall she was there, at the last heist too. Ya don't think that she's tryin' ta use a Kid heist as a means of drawin' her out, do ya? But how does she plan on doin' that? If I know the Osaka police like I do, the police guard will be..."

From the way that he trailed off, it was clear that he had answered his own question- and he wasn't the only one who had arrived at that solution. Though he couldn't see him, Conan found himself nodding in agreement anyways. "That's probably exactly it."

Still, even if that was the case, something about this situation still felt off. Even assuming Absinthe had something to do with Kid's latest choice of targets, why would she pick something that would so easily give hint to her connection to it? Did she just think nobody would notice? Or was she perhaps...

"It might be a trap." Conan said. "For you."

"I've already thought about that too." Heiji said. "Ya don't have ta worry about me, Kudo. I'm not in a hurry ta fall into another one of that woman's traps. Once was enough. But even if that's the case, I can't just leave this situation alone either."

"I know." Closing his eyes, Conan didn't have to think hard to guess in which direction his thoughts were heading- it was back to the kidnapping victim who had turned up dead, without a doubt. As much as he wanted to tell Heiji not to blame himself for that, he knew it wouldn't do any good. "That Nakamori-san could end up being abducted."

"Yeah." Heiji said. "But still, even if ya factor in the chance that it's a trap fer me as well, don't ya think it's still a bit too flashy? Me aside, if it's just Nakamori-han she wants, there's other ways ta get ta her other than this. If the daughter of the lead inspector disappears in the middle of a heist, it'll create a big uproar."

"She's already gone so far as kidnapping someone as famous as the Saint of Russia." Conan remarked. "At this point, I would hardly put something like this past her. But you're right. If she does more things that make her stand out like this, I can't imagine the Organization would sit quietly by and allow her to continue."

"Not without good reason." Heiji said. "In other words, me."

"Probably." Conan told him, pausing to peer out of the bathroom stall he had borrowed to make a call from. Class had probably already started, and if he stayed in here for much longer, there was a chance that Kobayashi might come looking for him. "If Haibara's right about their goal, then you'd make a pretty convincing trump card."

"Well, at the very least if it's just me, they won't have any reason ta go lookin' into any of the other Apotoxin victims." Heiji remarked. "But ya know, Kudo, doesn't it seem like she's a bit desperate?"

"That's true." Conan admitted. "I might have said that, but it's true that she's already seemed to have drawn interest from the Organization already. Is her ulterior motive really so important that she's willing to risk angering them?"

"Must be." Heiji said. "So? How'd that little neechan's search go? She find anythin'?"

"A lot of things, actually." Conan said. "I was going to bring it to today's meeting. Of course, I didn't bring them to school with me, so I'll be swinging by the Professor's first."

"True. I can't think of a single elementary school student that would have that sort of thing on them." There was a faint hint of laughter at his words. "Well, most elementary school students don't nose their way into half as many murder cases as ya do, _Conan-kun_ ~."

"Shut up." Grumbling a little in spite of himself, Conan peered out of the stall again, making out the faint sound of footsteps. "Anyways, I have go for now, Hattori. I think the teacher's looking for me."

"Ya shouldn't skip class, Kudo! What are ya, some kind of delinquent?"

"I don't want to hear that from _you_."

* * *

A heist.

At a time like this, a heist.

He could have said the same about the previous one, but given that they had learned new information since then, this time was even more glaring than the last. That one he could reason out as being his last chance at trying to steal the gem in question- but from the sound of it, this one was in no hurry to go anywhere.

Except with _Kaitou Kid_ , should he have his way.

Or rather, _Kuroba Kaito_. He wanted nothing more than to pull him aside, and have more than just a few words with him, but as if in an attempt to circumvent that very thing, the classmate in question wasn't even present. While it was certainly true that he had no _proof_ that they were one and the same, he knew what his intuition told him, and saw very little cause to doubt it.

Either way, to pull of a heist now, and in _Osaka_ , of all places... what was it that Kaito was thinking? Come to think of it, when he had returned to the hotel that night, after the heist in Nagano, he had been acting a bit odd- but he had dismissed that at the time as due to him trying to avoid him. It was only natural, given that not even an hour earlier, he had been trying to catch- an attempt which had met in failure.

But what if there was something else? What if there was something that he could gain by this, other than the jewel in question?

But what?

It was the location of the heist, really, that caught his interest. Osaka made him think of Hattori Heiji, and Hattori Heiji made him think of the missing would-be Powered Children. Perhaps it would be for the best to speak with the Inspector, and see to it that Aoko remained home this time.

Perhaps it would be for the best if _he_ remained home this time.

Not that his pride as a detective would allow it. Plus, if Kaito wasn't going to come to him, he would go to him, and demand what exactly it was that he was thinking right now. He might be a detective, but seeing as he was clearly worried about Aoko, shouldn't she be his first priority now?

"I wouldn't."

It took him a moment to even recognize that Akako had spoken to him, but once he did, he was unable to give her anything but his full attention. There was a stern note in her voice, and a serious expression on her face the likes of which he hadn't yet seen before, more than enough to catch his attention even without the mysterious pull he felt towards her.

"Wouldn't what?" Hakuba asked.

"Go to the heist. You're planning to, aren't you?" Akako asked, barely even sparing a glance down towards the newspaper that was spread out on Hakuba's desk.

"Naturally." Hakuba said, nodding his head. "Why is it that you say I shouldn't go, Koizumi-san?"

"It could be dangerous." Akako told him, closing her eyes. "Not just for you either."

"Dangerous?" Hakuba asked, his brows furrowing together. "How? And how do you know this?"

"Call it a women's intuition." Akako said simply, opening her eyes, her gaze lingering with his own for only a moment longer. "If you value your safety, you should stay at home that night."

With that message delivered, before he could so much as say anything more, she turned on her heel, leaving him to his own thoughts- of which he found himself in no shortage of. She didn't appear to be telling him this based off any mere hunch- rather, if anything, Akako had sounded completely certain, enough to nearly make his skin crawl.

Though there were any number of thoughts mixed up in his head, in the end, he could boil them all down to one, simple question.

 _Why_?


	25. Conversations with the FBI

"Checking something out for your freeloader, Uehara?"

"Kan-chan!" More than a little surprised that he had even managed to sneak up on her, Yui froze. He hadn't exactly been the most subtle of people, even _before_ he'd taken to using a crutch to walk about- she must have been more absorbed in her work than she thought, not to hear the butt of it strike the floor. "What are you doing here?"

"I work here." Kansuke stated plainly, arching a brow. "So?"

Heaving a short sigh, Yui's lips curled into a frown. "What even makes you think I'm looking something up for him in the first place, Kan-chan? And he's not really my freeloader anymore either."

"What other reason could you have for looking up the target of a Kid heist?" Kansuke asked, for a moment, almost sneering, a look of disdain on his face. "Or at the very least, I hope you're not starting to get into that flashy nonsense thief."

"I'm not." Yui reassured him, swiveling around in her chair. "I can assure you of that much."

"That's good then." Kansuke said. "So? You gonna spill?"

Letting out another sigh, Yui glanced up at him, before glancing back to her computer screen. Since he had been able to guess that much, there was no point in keeping anything further from him- and he might even be able to help. "If you must know," she began, looking back up towards him, "...I was asked to."

"Yeah, guessed that much already, Uehara." Kansuke noted. "What I want to know is why."

"I don't really know." Yui admitted, shaking her head. "I just got a mail from him earlier, asking me to look into the history behind the gem that Kaitou Kid is planning on stealing this weekend. It's owners, mostly."

"What, so now that thief's involved in this nonsense too?" Kansuke asked, clicking his tongue, stooping down to get a better look at her screen. "The hell is that Osaka kid up to anyways?"

"I asked him, but he hasn't told me yet." Yui said, scooting a bit back in her chair, allowing Kansuke a bit more room. "But he seems to think this is important, so..."

"Green Fairy, huh." Kansuke observed, his nose crinkling as he scanned the page further. "Don't tell me he's the type to believe in curses, Uehara."

"No, I don't think so." Yui said, shaking her head. "Though it's true it does sound rather unpleasant."

"Well, I'll admit it's got a pretty morbid history. But a curse's got nothing to do with it." Kansuke said, drawing back. "That woman's name. What did you say it was again?"

"Well that's..." Trailing off a little, Yui glanced around the office, her shoulders slumping when she realized that almost no one was paying attention to them. One would think that Kansuke would have a little more awareness of his surroundings, but he never was the type to care much for that. "If I recall, it was Absinthe."

"Then there's probably a connection then." Kansuke noted. "In the past, they used to call that liquor the green fairy."

"Eh, is that true?" Yui asked, turning her chair to check that herself. "Ah, you're right. That's why he asked me to look it up."

"Yeah." Kansuke said, giving a rather curt nod of his head. "But well, if that's kid's as skilled as you keep telling me he is, he's probably already figured that much out."

"But why?" Yui asked, leaning back in her seat. "Why would she be interested in Kid?"

"Not Kid." Kansuke noted. "Who's the inspector in charge of his case?"

"That would be..." Trailing off, Yui's brows lifted as it hit her at once. "I see. It could be that this might be some kind of trap."

"Yeah." Setting down the pile of paper that he had been carrying all this time in Yui's lap, he jerked his head down towards it. "And from the sound of it, not only for that Nakamori girl."

"Seems like our culprit has a taste for high school detectives."

* * *

"So?"

"So, what?" Conan asked, blinking as he tucked the papers he had been given into his own backpack.

Letting out a long, exasperated sigh, Ai folded her arms in front of her chest. "So? What are you going to tell that FBI woman?"

She'd been suspecting that he was doing something behind her back since the other day, but given the way her question made him flinch, it would seem that she had hit her mark. Letting out another sharp sigh, she merely arched a brow. "And don't think you can fool me." She added, tone brokering no arguments.

Opening and closing his mouth, Conan let out a sigh of his own, even as he zipped up his bag. "...fine, you've got me. Hattori arranged a meeting with her yesterday."

"I thought so." Ai said, shaking her head. "So? That still doesn't answer my main question, Kudo-kun. What are you going to tell her?"

"Don't worry, I don't plan on telling her anything about you." Conan quickly reassured her, jumping right to what he sensed was the heart of the matter. "Or about the Apotoxin either."

"Good." Nodding her head, it nevertheless appeared that she wasn't satisfied with just that. "But what if she asks?"

"About you?" Conan asked. "Don't worry, in that case, I'll just make something-"

"Not about me." Ai cut him off, before pausing, briefly reconsidering her own words. "But perhaps you should decide on what to tell her _before_ she even asks. We don't know how much this _Jodie Saintemillion_ knows, if that's actually her real name, but if I caught her interest during the bus jacking incident, I wouldn't be surprised."

She'd a fair point, Conan knew. Placing his backpack on his back, he thought the question over. "If she asks, depending on what she says when she does, I'll just tell her that one of your relatives was involved with the Organization, and was killed. That we're hiding you here."

"Sounds a bit flimsy." Ai noted, arching a brow, before seemingly letting it go. "But it should do for the moment, at least. More importantly, what do you plan on doing when she asks about you?"

There was a pause there- and the longer it went on, the more Ai sensed what the answer was. Placing a hand on her forehead, feeling the vague beginnings of a headache coming on, she glared at him with everything that she could muster.

"You don't have a plan, do you?"

"...not really, no." Conan confessed, shaking his head. "I thought it over, of course, but I can't think of a believable excuse as to why a first grader might be involved with _them_ in the first place. I don't think I can fool her into thinking I only got involved when Hattori showed up, either. From the sound of it, she's suspected it long since before then."

"And?" Ai pressed, though she half almost didn't want to ask, for she was certain her headache would only worsen, "What do you plan on telling her about Kudo Shinichi?"

"As far as she knows, Kudo Shinichi has no involvement with the Organization." Conan told her. "He's just a mystery loving student in the middle of playing hooky from school. I plan to keep it that way."

It was bad enough that a member of the FBI knew that Kudo Shinichi was alive... not to mention this mysterious member of the Organization- one that perhaps wasn't so mysterious at all, if his assumptions were correct. But as long as he could keep Jodie from discovering the truth about the disappearance of the high school detective of the east, he'd probably be safe.

Even in a world where there were people with extraordinary powers, one wouldn't normally assume that someone could have shrunk. Besides, if she was really curious, there was a chance that he might look into his listing in the Powered Children database- and no matter how one looked at it, it would rule out the most obvious solution to that mystery. Hattori had likely only suspected as much due to his own circumstances, and not having access to that exact information.

"...fair enough, I suppose." Ai admitted. "But I don't like it."

"I'd imagine." Conan said. "But speaking with Jodie-sensei might actually help us in the long run. It would be good to have a member of the FBI on our side. From the sound of it, there's a limit to the amount of information that Hattori can get from her."

"Well, I do admit that I'm curious about what kind of FBI investigation is letting one of their key witnesses run around so freely." Ai couldn't help but note. "But nevertheless, watch what you say, Kudo-kun. If they start to believe that you're anyone but Edogawa Conan, then..."

"Don't worry, I won't let that happen." Conan reassured. "And Hattori's not going to say anything either, so you don't have to worry about him."

"No, I think I have more to worry about from him than you." Ai noted, arching a brow.

"...Well," opening and closing his mouth, Conan could only let out a faint bit of strained laughter. "...you might have a bit of a point there. But he hasn't said anything like that yet, right?"

"That we _know_ of." Ai pointed out.

"Oi, oi."

* * *

"It's very, _very_ good to see you again, Conan-kun!"

He hadn't been sure what to expect when Jodie answered the door, but more of the usual hadn't been it. He was all but certain now that the exaggerated Japanese that she used was just an act, an cover to hide how fluent she actually was in the language- and if he hadn't already deduced that much, then Heiji's long suffering expression upon hearing her use it was clue enough.

An expression which changed very quickly when he spotted him, to that of a grin- and even a wave, Conan noted, resisting the urge to arch a brow. If Jodie wasn't going to drop her act just yet, then neither was he.

First, he had to find out how much she already knew. And he could do that a hell of a lot better if he didn't give her any further reason to suspect that he might be anything other than the normal first grade student that he presented himself as.

"Thank you for having me, Jodie-sensei!" Conan piped up. "Do you have anything to drink? I'm a bit thirsty."

"Of course!" Jodie told him. "Since Hattori-kun told me that you would be coming over today, I went ahead and picked up some orange juice on my way home. I hope that's okay!"

"Yes!" Nodding his head, keeping his tone chipper, Conan made his way over towards where Heiji was sitting on the couch- leering at him in amusement, he might add. He had half the mind to remind him that were it not for the fact that fate apparently had other plans for him, he might be in the same boat as him right about now.

Provided he didn't just die instead.

"Then, I'll go and get it." Jodie told him, still not dropping the exaggerated Japanese. "Give me just a minute!"

"Okay!" Keeping his tone and expression that of a cheerful child right up until Jodie turned her back, he took the chance to send a sharp glare in Heiji's direction, as he took a seat next to him. "Knock if off, Hattori."

His words might have been whispered, but they were more than loud enough for his fellow high school detective to hear- though they only seemed to manage to make him leer all the _more_. "Sorry, sorry. I don't get many chances ta see yer play-actin' in person, so I'm kinda enjoyin' it. How long ya plannin' on keepin' it up, Kudo?"

His glower only deepening at the use of his real name, to his credit, it seemed at least Heiji had the consideration to look slightly flustered over the mistake. Heaving a sigh, Conan watched as Jodie opened up the refrigerator, pulling out a carton of orange juice. "Until Jodie-sensei drops _hers_."

"Good luck with _that_ , then." Heiji muttered, annoyance lacing his tone.

There wasn't any time to discuss anything more- for Jodie had finished preparing the juice, and was making her way back to the living room. Erasing the glower from his expression, Conan gratefully accepted it from her, making a show of taking a long drink of it, before setting it back down.

"Heiji-niichan said you want to talk to me, Jodie-sensei?"

"That's right." Jodie said, taking a seat. For a moment, her exaggerated Japanese wavered, as if she seemed to be debating it- but in the end, she ultimately stuck with it. "I hope that it's not a problem for you, Conan-kun. I'm sure you've got homework!"

"Don't worry about it!" Conan told her, shaking his head. "I can do it just fine when I get home!"

"I see." Nodding her head, Jodie gave him a small smile, seeming to consider her words for a moment. "Then, Conan-kun, there's a few questions that I want to ask you."

"If it's about Heiji-niichan, don't worry!" Conan piped up. "I haven't told _anyone_ about him yet! I'm pretty sure Ran-neechan would be here, trying to knock down the door if I had!"

He didn't miss the way Heiji flinched at his side- doubtlessly imagining a girl with super strength breaking down the door for the sole purpose of dragging him home. No amount of lives seemed to be enough to ready him for that.

"Good. If possible, I'd like to keep it that way, Conan-kun." Jodie said, nodding her head. Drawing in a breath, she tapped her fingers against her knee, where her hands rested. "Then, will you answer me one other thing, Conan-kun?"

"What?" Conan asked, not missing the way that she had decided to switch to normal Japanese, dropping the act.

"What do you know about _them_?"

There it was, out in the open. He'd expected it, though not quite so bluntly. If she was asking this directly, it would seem that Jodie thought a great deal of his emotional maturity, if nothing else.

It was useful, but also tricky. If he let himself relax too much, it would open up the gates to suspicion- and that was somewhere he very much didn't want to land himself in. But at the same time, he couldn't let the silence that Jodie's question had created last for much longer. So, taking in a deep breath, Conan dropped as much of his own act as he could afford.

"I know _they_ exist." Conan told her frankly. "And that they're trying to do some bad things."

And then, after a brief moment of thought. "And I know that Jodie-sensei is FBI."

"That's true." Jodie confessed, a considering expression on her face as she took in what he said. "Teaching English here is my cover job. My real job is to-"

"Keep track of the Organization member posing as Araide-sensei?" Conan finished. Now that they were both done acting, to a degree, it was time to get straight to the point. Though frankly, the look on her face was all that he needed to confirm his suspicions.

So the Doctor Araide that was serving as the drama club supervisor, and the school doctor, really was a fake. When was the switch made? What had happened to the real Doctor Araide, and his family? These were questions that he didn't know the answer to- though depending on the answer to the first, it could very well answer yet another one of his all too many unanswered questions.

The identity of the mysterious Organization member. The _true_ identity.

To an extent, he supposed. For someone with disguise skills so good, who knew what the truth really was.

"...so you've realized that much." Jodie finally said, sounding more than a little surprised.

"No, I only managed to put it together when Heiji-niichan," and he ignored the arched brow that the persisted use of the childish fake term of address he was using for him got him from the person in question, "...told me that one of your coworkers was the man with the knit cap."

" _Did_ he now?" Jodie noted, her gaze now flickering towards Heiji- who didn't look the least bit troubled by it, Conan noted.

"He asked." Heiji said, shrugging his shoulders. "I was under the impression we were gonna let the kid in on things around here."

"Fair enough." Jodie noted. "That's right, he's one of ours. His name is Akai Shuichi, and like me, he's also an FBI investigator. Of course, I haven't told him about you yet."

"Why not?" Conan asked.

"I'm waiting to see how this conversation turns out." Jodie told him simply. "Well, Shu being Shu, he'll eventually find out on his own."

_Shu?_ Making note of the overly familiar nickname, Conan couldn't help but wonder if there was a story there, too. "Is he your boss?"

"No." Jodie said, shaking her head. "He and I, as well as some other officers, are working here in Japan in secret. Since we don't have any solid evidence to offer the police here, we're not working here in an official capacity."

"Well, who knows who's workin' fer the police these days anyways?" Heiji asked, leaning back into the couch, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Probably better that ya don't."

"I understand your sentiments, Hattori-kun," and she couldn't help but arch a brow at his somewhat adamant distrust of the police- a strange thing for the son of a police chief to say, "...but once we capture Vermouth, we do plan on using her as the evidence that we need."

...Could it be that someone in the Osaka police force was...?

That would be a question she would have to ask him- but only once Conan wasn't here, she thought to herself- even as she half realized that she had, in fact, momentarily forgotten he was around.

And as enlightening as that was, he didn't exactly like being left out of the conversation. "Why haven't you captured her yet, then? You know who she is, right?"

Blinking, very much seeming as if she really had forgotten him for a moment, Jodie turned back his way. "It's not that simple. In order for us to make it valid, we have to actually catch her in the act. Sure, it's a problem that she's disguised as someone else right now, but that's not enough to really prove that there's any kind of Organization working behind her."

A reasonable answer, Conan thought. Lack of evidence was the same reason that he couldn't tell the police anything- putting aside the current state of his own body.

"How long has this Vermouth been posing as Araide-sensei?" Conan asked. "And what happened to the real one?"

"The real one is fine. As is his family." Jodie was quick to reassure him, and at that, he let out a breath of relief. "We took care of that end. As for how long she has been posing as him... around two months now. Before Hattori-kun came here."

Since two months ago? Just as he thought, that would mean...

"Why?" Conan asked. "From what I understand of the Organization, I can't see any reason why one of them would pretend to be a high school nurse."

There was a pause there, and Conan resisted the urge to exchange a glance with Heiji. For a moment, he wondered if Jodie was going to make something up, or simply not tell him the answer, but it would seem that frankness won out in the end... though judging from her next question, with a condition.

"That red riding hood back on the bus," Jodie asked, "...who is she?"

For a moment, Conan considered lying again, and claiming that he didn't know- but she would have been there for him risking his life for hers. Though it was true he'd do that much for anyone, anyone who didn't know him that well wouldn't jump to that conclusion- instead finding it far more likely that he was involved with her in some way.

"...her _onee-chan_ was involved with the Organization." Conan said finally. "And was killed by them. Haibara ran away from them after that, and has been hiding with the Professor ever since then."

It wasn't entirely a lie, really. He'd only just left some things out. The real question was whether or not she'd believe it.

"I see." Jodie finally spoke, her expression serious. "No wonder she was so afraid of the bus jacking incident."

Fighting the urge to heave a sigh, he couldn't be one hundred percent sure she'd bought it just yet- not truly. If she was asking about Haibara, she must have some kind of reason- and the reason was a factor he didn't yet know.

He got the feeling that she might not tell him if asked, either.

Not _yet_ , at any rate.

"Yeah. So if possible, could we not involve her in this?" Conan ventured. "She's really scared of them."

Thankfully, the response he got there was a little bit more positive- a clear smile, one that he relaxed his shoulders upon seeing. Pressing Haibara was not what needed to happen now, not when he was all but sure their cover had been blown already. "I understand. But if she really wants to hide from them, we could enroll her in the Witness Protection Program."

"Ah, that's..." Conan began, before realizing that he couldn't think of a real reason to refuse the offer without sounding strange, "...I'll tell her about it."

"Good." Nodding her head, Jodie seemed to ease up herself. "Then, Conan-kun, there's one other question that I need to ask you."

"Is it about Heiji-niichan?" Conan asked.

"That's right." Jodie said, nodding her head. "Namely, how much you know about him."

"Ya know, I'm right here." Heiji chimed in, folding his arms in front of his chest, looking more than a little miffed that he had largely been left out of the loop of the conversation. He hadn't been able to find a place to butt in. "Ya could just ask _me_."

"I thought I'd hear it from Conan-kun." Jodie told him, lifting her brows. "Since it seems you're fond of keeping information from me, Hattori-kun."

Locking eyes with her, Heiji let out a disgruntled noise. "A guy's gotta have some secrets! Seein' as ya already saw me at my most exposed, I gotta cling ta what I've got left, Jodie-han."

"Please don't say things that could be interpreted, Hattori-kun." Jodie remarked dryly. "And I don't even remember exactly which one was yours."

"Wow." Placing a hand against his heart, a mock look of shock on his face, Heiji couldn't resist playing things up, now that attention had finally turned back to him. "An' here I thought we were bondin' here, Jodie-han."

"Regardless," Jodie pressed forward, a faint hint of laughter visible on the slight smile she wore, "...how is it that you came to know Hattori-kun, Conan-kun?"

That had been a question he had been expecting, and one that he had prepared for. It was a _bit_ of a gamble- but one that he thought would work out well. "He asked me about Shinichi-niichan." He told her. "He thought that maybe his disappearance had something to do with the Organization at first, and asked me about him."

"Shinichi-niichan?" Jodie blinked. "You mean Kudo Shinichi, don't you? If I recall, he's the childhood friend of Mouri-san's who has been playing hooky lately. You mean to tell me that he-?"

"No." Conan said, shaking his head, quickly jumping in before Heiji could say anything- because it almost looked like he was about to. "He doesn't. I told him as much."

"That's right, that's right." Going along with it, Heiji folded his arms in front of his chest, giving her a shrug of his shoulders. "An' here I thought that maybe I could commiserate with my fellow high school detective, but it looked like I was way off base though. Well, since it brought me ta this kid, looks like it all turned out well in the end anyways."

"I see." Jodie said, leaning back. "But Conan-kun... I'm sure you must understand that these are dangerous people."

"I know." Conan told her, grimacing inwardly a bit. "Don't worry, Jodie-sensei! I'll be careful."

"More importantly," sensing that now was the best time to change the topic, Conan unzipped his backpack, pulling out the collected papers that Ai had given him. "The Professor told me to give these to you. It's all of the articles that he was able to find detailing accidents in research facilities across Japan in recent years. I don't know if you'll be able to find any clues to Absinthe's identity with this, but..."

"It's a start." Jodie noted, taking them from him, giving them a cursory look over. "You must thank this Professor for me, Conan-kun."

"I will." Conan said, nodding his head.

"The real question is what we're gonna do about that Kid heist." Heiji noted, arching a brow. "Ya've dealt with him before- why do ya think he's makin' this kinda move now?"

Sensing the underlying meaning to the question, Conan shook his head. "He's accepted challenges before. Since the timing's too good, if this really is related to Absinthe, I doubt this is a target that he chose on his own."

"A challenge, huh?" Heiji noted. "Either way, it's a pain in the ass."

"You can't go." Jodie noted. "I'll get some agents to look into the matter, but there's television cameras everywhere during those heists. Even if it has no connection to Absinthe, there's still too much risk of you showing up on camera."

"I know, I know." Heiji grumbled, shooting her a dirty look. "I'm not an idiot."

"I can go." Conan told them. "Since I have the reputation as being the," and he couldn't help but grimace here, even as he said it, "...Kid Killer, I don't think Inspector Nakamori would think it too strange if I showed up this time."

"It's in Osaka, though." Heiji pointed out. "How are ya gonna convince Neechan ta let ya go?"

"I'll think of something." Conan told them. "Don't worry about it."

"It could be dangerous." Jodie noted, a tight frown on her face. "This could be a trap."

"But not for me, right?" Conan pointed out. "I don't think she'll even think twice about a child. If she's really trying to target Inspector Nakamori's daughter, we can't exactly leave this alone. Besides..."

Besides, there was a chance that he might be able to meet this _Ginger_ himself, this time around. From the sound of it, _Ran_ had actually met her briefly the last time that they had been in Osaka- a thought which had chilled him to the bone the moment he'd put two and two together.

If he could expose her... not only would they be able to get some solid evidence, but it would also give Heiji some room to breathe. With his worst fear out of the way, he might even be able to tell his family that he was still alive.

They'd know, thanks to Kazuha, but it was one thing to hear it from someone else, and another to see it with their own two eyes. Besides...

...he got the feeling that there were any number of questions that Heiji would like to ask of them.

"Besides what?" Jodie asked, snapping him from his thoughts, realizing that he had left the woman hanging.

"Ah, no." Shaking his head, Conan gave her a smile. "It's nothing. Ah, that's right, there was one other thing I wanted to talk to you about, Jodie-sensei. Heiji-niichan too."

"Is it about that shady niichan?" Heiji asked, casting a glance down towards him. "Ya mentioned him too me earlier, but from the sound of it, it seems like ya got somethin' more on him."

"Shady?" Jodie asked, leaning forward. "Can you tell me more, Conan-kun?"

"Yeah." Nodding his head, Conan pulled out his phone, sending a photo to Heiji's, who forwarded it to Jodie's without a word. "He calls himself Amuro Tooru. He started working at Cafe Poirot around a week and a half ago, and claims that he's a detective."

"Amuro Tooru?" Jodie asked, studying the photo, before saving it to her phone. "That's the cafe underneath the Mouri Detective Agency, isn't it?"

"That's right." Conan told her. "It seems like he's been asking questions about Heiji-niichan lately. Kazuha-neechan brought Inspector Nakamori's daughter over the other day, and she told us that she'd been asked questions about him by this man. Of course, she didn't tell him anything at the time."

"I see." Her brows furrowing, Jodie studied the photo with renewed interest. "That's certainly troubling. Did you discuss the matter with him?"

"We did." Conan told her. "He says that he was hired by someone over the Internet to look into the matter, with only a photograph of Heiji-niichan to go on, and no name, but I don't think that's true."

"It's true, that does sound suspicious." Jodie noted, arching a brow. "And? Does he appear familiar to you, Hattori-kun?"

"Not at all." Heiji said, shaking his head. "If he's with them, he's not a member that I got the chance ta meet. Of course, seein' as I spent most of my time cooped up in that damn lab, it's not like I'm much help in that area. Especially not if there's Organization members goin' around with damn near perfect disguises now."

"Vermouth is special in that regard." Jodie told him, her expression turning somewhat grave- something which neither of the detectives missed. "But I see... we can certainly look into this matter. If he's really with the Organization, it's troubling that he chose Mouri-san's father's detective agency as a base of operations."

"Couldn't it just be because he's been hired ta handle my case?" Heiji asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Might make sense ta wanna keep his ears close ta that office, on the off chance that uncle actually turns somethin' up."

"That's a fair point, but with the Organization, nothing's ever that simple." Jodie noted. "So? Is he still there now?"

"Yeah." Conan said, nodding his head. "It seems like Uncle Kogoro believed him. As for Kazuha-neechan... I don't know about that."

"Yeah, she might not fall fer that kind of thing." Heiji noted, a slight frown on his face. "I'm sure that old man of hers will talk ta her about, but..."

Trailing off a little, Heiji snapped out of his thoughts, realizing that he was being looked at rather intensely by the other two. "W-what? What are ya starin' at me fer? She's my childhood friend, so of course I'm worried about her, ya idiots!"

"No, nobody even said anything." Conan pointed out, lifting a brow. "But you've got a point. Even if she can teleport, there's no telling what the Organization might do."

"Then, I can contact your family, and-"

"No." Cutting her off, Heiji locked eyes with Jodie. "If that _viper_ hears that the FBI has contacted my old man, there's no tellin' what she might do."

"Viper?" Jodie blinked.

"...no, it's nothin'." Heiji said, turning his head away from her, realizing he'd said too much.

Exchanging a glance between them, Conan heaved a sigh, sensing what was going on here. He had been suspecting as much, given how reluctant Heiji had been to tell him, but...

"Why don't you just tell her, Heiji-niichan?" Conan piped up, purposefully making his tone rather childish. "I know you're scared, but..."

" _I'm not scared!_ " Heiji snapped, narrowing his eyes as he leaned in close to him. "That's not it at all!"

"Then, why won't you tell her?" Conan asked. "Jodie-sensei might be able to help."

"...that's..." Trailing off as he drew back, realizing that he had no good argument for that, Heiji turned his head away, all but feeling Jodie's expectant gaze on him. He wasn't stupid enough to think that she hadn't noticed that he was still keeping some things from her, but he hadn't expected to be forced out with it like this- and certainly not by someone who looked like they were just barely out of _toddlerhood_.

"That's...?" Conan questioned, tilting his head.

There was a long pause then, before Heiji let out a rather disgruntled sound, furiously scratching at the back of his head. "Alright, alright! If yer gonna be that persistent about it, I'll talk!"

Honestly, how was this even fair? Kudo got to keep his own secrets, while he had to spill out more than he cared for out into the open. He'd get him for this later.

"It's about the other Organization member workin' fer Absinthe." Heiji told her plainly, letting out a long sigh. "I actually-"

At this point, he wasn't even sure if he was grateful for the sound of a phone going off interrupting him. It took him a moment to realize that the phone in question was his own, but once he did, he gave something of a sheepish grin to the other two, retrieving it from his pocket.

"A mail?"

From Yui, at that.

Opening it up, Heiji scanned it's contents, his eyes narrowing. The name listed wasn't one that he knew... but thankfully, Yui had provided an explanation herself. Getting to the his feet out of habit, he paced for a moment, before turning back on his heel, looking down at the two equally confused and expectant parties.

"If that heist is some kinda trap, then that Inspector-han's daughter might not be the only target." He told them, previous topic all but forgotten. "Turns out she's not the only one on the list that involves herself with Kid heists."

"What do you mean?" Conan asked.

"What I mean is, is that it looks like high school detectives have a knack fer findin' trouble fer themselves."


End file.
